A cartoon in a satirical magazine that depicts a black poet and activist with a jutting chin and sloping forehead is being modified by the cartoonist after it was denounced as a racist image and a campaign to remove the magazine from stores was launched.
Andrew Douglas, the managing editor of the Atlantic region version of Frank magazine, apologized to readers on Tuesday, saying he’s fearful that the depiction of El Jones among a group of protesters in the cartoon could attract racists to the publication.
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The image of Jones has drawn angry social media commentary, including an online post from Jones on the weekend that referred to it as similar to racist depictions of Africans that appeared in periodicals during the 1800s.
The cartoon has also resulted in a boycott campaign being launched by Sarah Dunsworth, an actor on the “Trailer Park Boys” series, who in Twitter comments says the “racist harassment … is disgusting and shameful.”
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She has called for stores, including Sobeys, to pull the latest issue off their shelves.
WATCH: Halifax poet laureate El Jones
Douglas wrote in a letter to readers that the intention wasn’t to publish a racist drawing, but he is aware that drawings that liken black people to primates can be viewed in this way.
The cartoon has appeared several times in both the magazine’s print and online editions.