Boston Herald's Obama Cartoon - Jokes involving politics are always controversial as more than one person might take it in the wrong way or simply imply it to be part of a context that the artist differs from. Such is the case of Boston Herald's cartoon involving President Obama and The White House intruder that was posted today, October 1st.
This morning, a cartoon in the Boston Herald that had President Obama brushing his teeth and another person in the bathtub taking a bath and asking Obama a very simple question: "Have you tried the new watermelon flavored toothpaste?" and to introduce the satire, there is another message that reads, "WHITE HOUSE INVADER GOT FARTHER THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT"
Now, this is clearly a satire that Jerry Holbert, Boston Herald's artist made in reference to the latest invasions into The White House that have been happening in Sept.
The problem is that many people didn't take it as a "simple joke" and instead, took it upon the racial aspects that the joke might connote, apparently to many. For instance, Keith Boykin posted in his twitter and Huffington Post noted, "This cartoon in today's @bostonherald is racist and offensive. The Herald should apologize."
And that they did. As a matter of fact, Jerry Holbert visited Boston Herald Radio this morning and announced, "I want to apologize to anyone to anyone I offended who was hurt by the cartoon. It was certainly, absolutely, not my intention."
Then, he also claimed, according to the Boston Herald that he took the idea from the kid's toothpaste that is watermelon flavored and that he has in his bathroom at home. It was, to him, a completely naïve and innocent joke that had no connotation whatsoever in the racial aspect.
Mistakes, confusions and failing to read along the lines happens to everyone and too many people have different points of views and experiences, so it's hard to see the context some people would understand out of a satire.
