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New York Post Chairman Rupert Murdoch issued an apology Tuesday for a cartoon that critics said likened a violent chimpanzee shot dead by police to President Barack Obama.
The cartoon, which was published last Wednesday, showed the body of the bullet-riddled chimp and two police officers. The caption said: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." The cartoon was published several days after a real chimpanzee, Travis, was killed last week by police in Connecticut after mauling a woman.
"Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted," Murdoch said in a statement. "I can assure you�without a doubt�that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation.
"It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such. We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard, and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community."
Murdoch's statement comes a day after Rev. Al Sharpton and members of the New York City Council called upon the city of New York to refrain from further advertising in the New York Post.
Sharpton's National Action Network has also called for a city council hearing to review employment data in the newsrooms in New York "to see how a newspaper could be so racially insensitive to have a cartoon green lit such as the one last Wednesday--a cartoon so racially insensitive that it calls into question the lack of diversity in newsrooms," read a statement from NAN.
Rev. Sharpton said he will lead a delegation to Washington, D.C., this week to meet with FCC Commissioners regarding the challenging of the waiver that allows Murdoch and News Corp to own more than one television station and newspaper in the same city, which Sharpton feels "empowers them to publish racist cartoons without fear of retribution or fear of losing advertising dollars."
