Editorial cartoonist Ed Hall has seen an anti-racism cartoon of his changed in Photoshop to one that downplays racism, but then keeps Ed’s signature on the perversion.
Yesterday, someone on Reddit, decided to take one of my cartoons, change the text in Photoshop, and turn it into a racist cartoon. Then they did something even more cowardly, and left my signature on the cartoon to direct the vitriol right back at me.
Putting aside the violation of copyright laws, and hijacking my name to make their point, they are also infringing upon my syndicate’s ability to publish original artwork via a legitimate business model and make money. They also put me in direct danger from anyone who might take offense to the doctored cartoon.
Below compare the original on the left and the corruption on the right.
On Facebook Ed Hall and the commenters on the atrocity note that this far from the first time a copyrighted piece has been bastardized to alter the meaning, but the criminals usually have the “decency” to remove the artists signature in the process of changing the work.
I sent this to someone I know, who doesn’t understand why it’s wrong to do this. He takes other’s cartoons, changes the text, and posts them on social media around the internet.