Murdoch apologizes for monkey cartoon in NY Post

Rake it over the coals. It’s still got plenty of life.

The owner of the New York Post, Rupert Murdoch, has apologised for a cartoon which critics said was a racist depiction of President Barack Obama. Newspaper cartoonist Sean Delonas drew police shooting dead a chimp, while remarking “they’ll have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill”. But Mr Murdoch said the cartoon was meant to mock Mr Obama’s legislation and was not intended to be racist. – From BBC News

New York Post Chairman Rupert Murdoch apologized Tuesday for a cartoon that critics said likened a violent chimpanzee shot dead by police to President Barack Obama. In a statement published in the newspaper, Murdoch said he wanted to “personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.” He said the Post will work to be more sensitive. Murdoch said the cartoon was intended only to “mock a badly written piece of legislation.” – From AP

Reverend Al Sharpton issued a call to the city today to stop advertising in the New York Post, despite an apology today by News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch over the controversial cartoon that appeared in last week’s paper. “Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people,” said Murdoch in a statement in today’s paper. “Today, I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended and even insulted.” “I can assure you – without a doubt – that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation,” continued Murdoch. “It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such.” – From NY1.com