The Boston Herald thought this was funny when they decided to run it this morning, but the backlash is real, and the online publication is now trying to erase their dumb racist mistake.
In an attempt to poke fun at the Secret Service and the recent intruder who broke into the White House a couple weeks ago – the intruder reaching much further in the building that originally thought – the Boston Herald ran this cartoon showing the intruder taking a bath and the President brushing his teeth. The intruder asking the president if he tried the “watermelon flavored toothpaste.”
With their obvious racism out of the bag and a huge backlash from the public, Jerry Holbert, the man responsible for the cartoon, apologized, saying he is no racist and the obvious racism was not intended.
“To me, I was completely naive or innocent to any racial suggestion. I wasn’t even thinking along those lines at all. I was thinking about myself, I was thinking I really like watermelon.”
He said his inspiration came from a tube of children’s toothpaste left in his house by his son’s girlfriend. “I also apologize to anybody that I offended. This was not my intention at all.”
Then the paper issued its own apology, while saying they “stand by Jerry.”
“His cartoon satirizing the U.S. Secret Service breach at the White House has offended some people and to them we apologize. His choice of imagery was absolutely not meant to be hurtful. We stand by Jerry, who is a veteran cartoonist with the utmost integrity.”
The Tweet.
Yes, this ran in today’s Boston Herald. http://t.co/xBO4sZzUsc pic.twitter.com/yIJZC8tjFN
— Romenesko (@romenesko) October 1, 2014
