Commonwealth Cartoon Communiqués

Canada


© Lynn Johnston

The Trudeau government used taxpayers’ dollars to fund a cartoon exhibition.

The cartoonist behind “For Better or For Worse” (FBorFW) Lynn Johnston received more than $15,000 from the Mission Cultural Fund, according to a blog post issued by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) on Friday.

The District of Columbia art installation, called “The Comic Art of Lynn Johnston,” coincided with the 40th anniversary of “FBorFW” being published. “The Comic Art of Lynn Johnston” was displayed at the Embassy of Canada, Washington, D.C. from September 2019 to January 2020, costing taxpayers $15,799.

Some are upset about spending money on art and goodwill.

 

United Kingdom


© Bob Moran

MANY of you will have read of the suspension of Telegraph cartoonist Bob Moran for posting a hostile tweet directed at a well-known pro-lockdown NHS doctor for which he subsequently publicly apologised. You can read Sally Beck’s report here. 

It was only days after he released his heartrending explanation of his personal situation that had had driven him to his outburst that the Telegraph dismissed him.

There can be few upsides to this cowardly treatment by the Telegraph, and certainly the perfunctory expression of sympathy from Dr Rachel Clarke, whose officiousness resulted in this young father of three children, one very severely disabled, losing his livelihood, is not one.

In defense of a cartoonist who encouraged people to “verbally abuse” a doctor.

 

Australia


© Michael Leunig

When I first saw it, not long after becoming a columnist for this newspaper, I laughed out loud. Leunig was a contrarian and enormously popular when his talent was firing on all cylinders.

However, apparently lately, I was one of the few who could appreciate his anti “woke” cartoons. He has been sacked from The Age after working for that august publication for almost 50 years.

Angela Shanahan, for The Australian, defends Michael Leunig.

 

The Melbourne Age’s declining band of readers are being deprived of the principal reason many of them buy the paper, its veteran highly-opinionated doodler Michael Leunig. He says he’s been sacked and is wailing to anyone who’ll listen about being “censored”. Well boo-hoo. It had to happen of course; all leftists fall out with each other sooner or later, like Lenin and Trotsky or Mao and Deng Xiaoping,over disagreements about the purity of their thought.

Still, Leunig can hardly complain. He’s had a good run for someone of limited talent.

Christopher Ankhurst, at The Spectator, is not so sympathetic.

 

 

British Virgin Islands


© VINO, or respective copyright owner

A cartoon image which has since been removed from the Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) website has received heavy criticism from the BVI public following its controversial encrypted message.

The image portrayed cartoon characters which closely resembled at least two prominent faces in the territory most notably talk show host and community activist Cindy Rosan.

[Dr. Michael Turnbull] said the cartoon image was a blatant sign of hate and discrimination and one that exhibited all the characteristics of online bullying.

284 Media reports on the outrage.

 

Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) has pulled a cartoon depicting commentary on the current state of social issues in the Virgin Islands (VI), following some misunderstanding over how the imagery was interpreted by some members of the public.

The cartoon was meant to show that while the VI struggles with its different issues, the CoI seemed insensitive to the territory’s plight and continued with its work, which many persons have suspected have motives not in the best interest of the Virgin Islands.

… Nevertheless, Rosan-Jones has personalised the issues in the VINO cartoon and made it entirely about her, although that was not the intention of the imagery in question.

VINO, while pulling the cartoon, defends the cartoon.

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