ZAPIRO ON THE COUCH

BY JOHN CURTIS

The Mail & Guardian Online has released a teaser to Zapiro’s much anticipated response to the criticism he and the newspaper have received since the publication last week of a cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad.

After the uproar that followed, the cartoonist and the newspaper’s editor, Nic Dawes, met with representatives from the offended Muslim community to discuss their concerns. Subsequently the M&G expressed its regret for the offense caused by the cartoon and agreed to review its policy on religion. Until such time as the review is complete, the paper has undertaken not to depict the prophet again.

However Zapiro has declined to comment on the matter, saying that his response will take the form of a cartoon in the next edition of the newspaper.

The teaser shows that in a sequel to the Muhammad cartoon, the cartoonist has replaced the prophet on the psychiatrist’s couch. “Tough week?” asks the same psychiatrist. "You have NO idea!” responds Zapiro in the first frame of a rough draft of the multi panel cartoon.

The full cartoon will be published in the Mail & Guardian on Friday morning, and can be viewed on their site (and hopefully ours) later in the day. The newspaper has also published a special report online of the cartoon and the controversy it has brought.

9 am UPDATE: The full cartoon is now up on our site and can be viewed here.

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Africartoons