Audio By Carbonatix
Independent Journalism in Phoenix Needs You
We need to raise $15,000 by August 9 to support the reporting our community depends on. Reader support keeps us independent and is playing a larger role in funding local journalism and shaping what comes next. If you believe independent local journalism matters, make a contribution today.
Everyone at the University of Arizona’s student newspaper, the Daily Wildcat, is in apology mode after a comic about shooting a gay kid if he ever came out to his father garnered some national attention.
The apparent “joke” was about a father shooting his gay son with a shotgun, rolling him up in some carpet, and tossing him off a bridge — “Fruit Roll Up,” LOL (???).
See also:
–UA Student Paper Sorry About That Cartoon Joking About Blasting a Gay Kid With a Shotgun
It’s a student paper, so all will be forgotten soon enough, but the cartoon’s invoking a wide range of responses.
Some people (a few thousand, apparently) want other members of the Wildcat’s staff to step down for the cartoon, which certainly wouldn’t be a move that would increase the quality of the paper.
Others have called it an expression of homophobia, although based on the cartoonist’s apology, he wasn’t trying to piss off gay people.
What seems to be the cartoonist’s big problem was that it wasn’t funny. Jokes can be made about touchy subjects, which usually cause only the self-righteous and attention-grabbing folks who love shouting “I’m offended” to complain.
We’re not to make the cartoonist’s week even worse (he already lost his gig at the paper), but let’s take a poll: did anyone find that comic humorous?
Cast your vote below:
