A Canadian cartoonist has found himself out of a job after an illustration of Donald Trump playing golf over the drowned bodies of two immigrants went viral.
According to CNN, last week a disturbing photo was published of Oscar Alberto Martinez and his 23-month-old daughter lying face down on the bank of the Rio Grande, after they had drowned in attempts to cross the river from Mexico into Texas.
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The image of the original photo sparked outrage all over the country, and inspired cartoonist, Michael de Adder to make a political statement by drawing a illustrated rendering of the sobering moment — but this time with president Trump, golf club in hand, standing coldly over the bodies, while callously asking, “Do you mind if I play through?”
Friday, the New Brunswick-based publishing company that de Adder worked with terminated his contract and as a result his work will no longer appear in four prominent Canadian publications. In response, he tweeted that every Trump cartoon he has ever submitted in the last year has always been vetoed by the publishing company, Brunswick News Inc.
Cartoon for June 26, 2019 on #trump #BorderCrisis #BORDER #TrumpCamps #TrumpConcentrationCamps pic.twitter.com/Gui8DHsebl
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 26, 2019
“Does it matter if I was fired over one Donald Trump cartoon when every Donald Trump cartoon I submitted in the past year was axed?” he asked rhetorically, prompting his followers to wonder if pro-Trump hirer ups were censoring him do to their own political leanings.
“It got to the point where I didn’t submit any Donald Trump cartoons for fear that I might be fired,” he said in a follow-up tweet.
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Sunday, Brunswick News Inc. fired back with a statement refuting the rumors that the viral anti-Trump illustration is what led to them cutting ties with de Adder.
“This is a false narrative which has emerged carelessly and recklessly on social media,” the statement said. “BNI was not even offered this cartoon by de Mr. de Adder.”
While the company claims that they’d been planning to replace de Adder for weeks, another Canadian cartoonist, Wes Tyrell, backed up de Adder’s sentiments and told CNN the Brunswick newspapers have repeatedly refused to publish anti-Trump cartoons in the last few years.
But in the past 2 weeks I drew 3 Trump cartoons. 2 went viral and the third went supernova and a day later I was let go. And not only let go, the cartoons they already had in the can were not used. Overnight it was like I never worked for the paper. Make your own conclusions.
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) July 1, 2019