Wednesday, March 26, 2014


Outrage as Belgian Paper Mocks American President



Belgian newspaper De Morgen has published pictures of US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes, days ahead of Obama's expected visit to the country this coming week.

The mainstream paper, which was founded in 1978, published a section in its Saturday edition entitled 'The Obama Herald'.
The section was a satirical look at what translates roughly as 'the news even before it happened, unless it's already happened, of course'.

It features potential future tweets from the US President, as well as an 'interview' with Sasha Obama claiming that she "hates Beyonce" and "that ugly man of hers too".

But one section in particular may cause controversy for the paper: a picture of Barack and Michelle Obama with monkey faces. The picture was published under the 'Opinion' section of the paper under the guise of being sent in by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Users of the social networking site Reddit gave mixed responses when presented with the image, with some lauding the press freedom in Belgium, and others rightly noting the cartoon's vulgar and racist overtones.

SOURCE

OK to call GWB a chimp, though.


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice Photoshop job. Just missing a banana. All presidents are like that. After all, it is the lowest common denominator that wins elections.

Anonymous said...

OK to call GWB a chimp, though.

That was going to be my response, thanks.

Funny how libs can dish it out but can't take it!

Anonymous said...

I think they are insulting Chimps. A Chimp would do a better job running this country.

Anonymous said...

This is a perfect case of "what is moral may not be legal and what is legal may not be moral."

In the US, the paper would have every legal right to print this.

Is it morally right?

Not in my opinion. I would never be the designer who did this nor would I ever be the editor that would put this in a paper.

(And frankly, "they do it too!" is not an excuse or justification.)

Bird of Paradise said...

Comparing the Obamas to apes is insulting to apes

Anonymous said...

It may be insulting but it perfectly matches the way he is running our country and our foreign policy.

Anonymous said...

I must say I think it is a wonderful thing that this COULD be published - but it is a shame that someone thought it OUGHT to be published.

Stan B said...

The reason you could depict GWB as a chimp is because everyone KNEW it was satire.

Anonymous said...

Stan said, "... everyone ..."

That's a bold claim.

Stan B said...

Anon 12:58 AM - Well,everyone who's anyone. The rest don't matter... ;-)

Anonymous said...

Stan, a smart guy like you should know that the word "everyone" is all inclusive. Perhaps you should have used "Right Wingers" instead of "everyone." That seems more fitting to me in the context that it was used.