Koterba’s disappearing cartoon

Jeff Koterba had a cartoon run in the Iowa edition of Tuesday’s Omaha World Herald that was changed before any of the Nebraska papers were printed. There’s no sign of it on Omaha.com either, but you can see the cartoon at cagle.com (for now, at least).

I emailed Koterba, asking if he could tell me anything about the disappearance.

“Concerns were raised as to how the cartoon might be interpreted so my editor pulled it,” he said.

I was a little puzzled about the skin tone of the characters Harry Reid is depicted as speaking to. In the version of the cartoon linked to above, the men appear to have light-colored skin that’s not much darker than cartoon Harry’s. This seems to be at odds with Reid’s words. I thought this might possibly be a play off his comments about Obama being sort of light-skinned (not having the exact wording in front of me, that’s my best attempt at a paraphrase), or it could just be something as simple as a technical ink-color reproduction issue.

“Gosh, I meant for them to be gangsta rappers,” he told me. “So yes, perhaps the version you’re looking at there is an issue with poor color reproduction.” While he didn’t specifically identify the race, I think the implication is that since they’re supposed to be “gangsta rappers,” they were intended to be black.

Mystery solved.

16 Responses to Koterba’s disappearing cartoon

  1. nathan says:

    I could see the color not coming through being printed in B/W in the paper, but the three guys have big lips and wide flat noses; stereotypical “black” features.

    What concerns did the editor have? Reid used the word “negro.” The census is coming up this year. I don’t really see the humor in this cartoon, but I don’t see the problem with it? Maybe my good taste has been tainted by my years of reading Nealo cartoons? ;-)

    neal replied:

    I wonder if they thought using an outdated stereotype of African-Americans wasn’t the best way to mock someone for having an outdated view of African-Americans.

    Van replied:

    Let’s hope it was that, and not the poor color reproduction.

  2. lame says:

    Aside from the racial connotations, this just isn’t a very good cartoon (what a surprise). It isn’t cleaver, catchy, ironic, satiric, or funny. It’s a very lazy cartoon idea.

    Matthew replied:

    Par for the course.

  3. Wallace Cleaver says:

    I could live with the stereotypes, if the cartoon was funny. It isn’t. It’s just racist.

    Mark replied:

    Not funny, just racist? That’s Jeff Koterba for you.

  4. [...] early Iowa edition, but not in its later — and primary — Nebraska run or online, according to nealo.com, which linked to Jeff Koterba’s art at [...]

  5. The joke is about bending over backwards to avoid the hyperirritability of minorities that have been cultured over the last fifty years in the name of lofty, humanistic ideals. Nobody on this page gets this?!

  6. I didn’t even think much about the skin tones, I was bothered about the word ‘negro’.

  7. Sandy says:

    Great cartoons by Harry Reid!! but though used the light skin color tone, the words “Black”,”Negro” or “African-American” and the way of dressing style clearly explains these pictures are pointing to those people. However, his thought was really good!!! thanks.

  8. Roger says:

    I appreciated the cartoon, but now that I’ve read the comments, I feel a bit sheepish.

  9. Amy Windsor says:

    To Sandy: “the way of dressing style clearly explains these pictures are pointing to those people”
    Really, do you actually think that “those people” only dress in this manner? I would say the only obvious thing about the cartoon is that it is a complete failure.

  10. Sam says:

    Eleanora: “The joke is about bending over backwards to avoid the hyperirritability of minorities that have been cultured over the last fifty years in the name of lofty, humanistic ideals.”

    Racial sensitivity is a product of hundreds of years of oppression, not fifty years of political correctness.

  11. Hmmmnnn….I see what he was doing here…I think it could have been done better. My guess is the comments about ‘gangsta rappers’ being black were said to the editor…once you hear that your interpretation of the cartoon changes. Still up today though in 2011!
    David

  12. Jess says:

    Funny how Koterba was attempting to make a political comment, and ended up making a completely different one…

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