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Michael Leunig officially became The Age after his controversial anti-Vax cartoon last month painted. His self-published comparison of Melbourne’s vaccination efforts with the Tiananmen Square massacre turned out to be the final straw for the Fairfax newspaper, to which the cartoonist had contributed weekly since the 1980s.
Leunig told the Australian that his contract was ending « Purge » and sarcastically admitted that « apparently I have no contact with the readership ».
76-year-old white male caricaturist was deleted after being crappy at his job for the past 20 years. # Auspol #Leunig
The competitor reported that the piece in question was an « Anti-Dan Andrews » cartoon in which Leunig drew a tank with a needle as a gun barrel and a solo man based on the famous Beijing character « Tank Man » showed who rose up against the Chinese military over 30 years ago in the name of freedom of speech. A better and more direct justification for his departure, however, is his consistent anti-Vax message, as the cartoonist has been making various taunts since at least 2015.
After The Age decided not to publish the cartoon, Leunig published it on his own social media accounts and received immediate backlash for being insensitive, privileged, and disrespectful. « In June 1989 people were murdered en masse, » replied the Melbourne writer Elizabeth Flux at the time. “For the courage to work for a democratic future. For the hope of more freedom. ”
“ To even compare that to a request to get vaccinated for the good of your community, for the good of your own health … it’s not even in the same [area], ”she said .
Age editor Gay Alcorn reportedly told Leunig that his political thoughts were not « in line with public opinion. »
« I come from a down-to-earth perspective and working class value system, but that perspective seems to be more and more merging these days with the cozy, inner-city mindset of The Age, « he said.
Whenever you use the phrase » inner-city mindset « you know you’ve lost the argument. It’s like calling someone an ugly mole because they disagree. # Leunig
« I drew several caricatures of Leunig, almost exclusively on the grounds that they expressed an anti-vaccination sentiment » said Alcorn on the subject. “We don’t mind cartoonists challenging readers. We encourage diversity of opinion, but I had concerns about cartoons that are perceived as anti-vaccination. ”
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