Boston Herald publishes, apologizes for racist Obama cartoon

"Have you tried the new watermelon flavored toothpaste?" reads the speech bubble in today's Boston Herald cartoon depicting last week's White House intruder and a perturbed President Obama. The internet, however, is not laughing, with the toon drawing allegations of racism since its publication.

The Herald's racial stereotype gaffe comes to us from cartoonist Jerry Holbert, who appears to be poking fun at Army veteran Omar Gonzalez's intrusion into the White House, which got him all the way to the East Room before an off-duty security guard caught him in the act. Admittedly a funny situation, but some—including Philly.com cartoonist Rob Tornoe—found the choice of words a little off-putting and a lot racist:

Boston Herald editors have since issued an 'apology' via social media for the cartoon, saying that they "sincerely regret if we inadvertently offended anyone" with the cartoon. Holbert's unedited work, however, is still live on the Herald site.

Interestingly, GoComics.com has a similar version of the same cartoon, though with the "watermelon" reference replaced with a "raspberry" one. Which version is the original, however, is unclear.

UPDATE: Holbert has addressed the criticisms that his cartoon is racist, saying that he wasn't "thinking of the racial element" and that he just really has a soft spot for watermelon flavoring. Via Talking Points Memo:

Holbert, himself, responded to the criticism his cartoon received during an appearance Wednesday on the Boston Herald's talk radio show. 

He told the hosts that he had "no intention at all of offending anyone" and that he doesn't "think along the lines of racial jokes." While he acknowledged that his jokes can be "naive" or "stupid," he said he was definitely not racist. He repeatedly emphasized that he "wasn't thinking of the racial element" when he used watermelon toothpaste. 

"I was thinking of myself," he said. "I really like watermelon."

Meanwhile, Herald spokesperson Gwen Gage called the cartoon "satire," and defended their contributors' rights to express themselves in a statement to radio station WBZ:

"Contributors to our Editorial and Opinion pages have the right to express their views, and satire is clearly used in Jerry Holbert's cartoon today," Herald spokesperson Gwen Gage said in a statement.

What's more, though, it looks like Holbert is the one who made the change from "watermelon" to "raspberry," but only at the direction of its syndicators:

Holbert said he was contacted by the syndicate of the cartoon Tuesday night, asking if he could change the flavor from watermelon to raspberry.

"They said there's a racial element to it, and I disagreed to be honest with you, but I did it anyway because that's what they were asking for," Holbert said, adding that he regretted not calling The Herald to let them know about the syndicate's objection.

[Mashable]