Political Cartoonist Faces Death Threats

Adam Zyglis, often featured here, offended some.

As you know, I feature political cartoons rather heavily here, about six days a week. In fact, far as I can judge, it is one of this newsletter’s most popular aspects (perhaps even #1). I put a fair amount of work into it, searching for the best, the “hardest-hitting” and/or witty or artful.

Among those I publish pretty regularly is Adam Zyglis from the Buffalo News. And it’s not just because I grew up near Buffalo and read his paper an awful lot for a lot of years. He’s generally very good. But a highly disturbing episode developed late yesterday. I first read about it thanks to another illustrator featured here regularly, Steve Brodner.

I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to explore it fully but here’s what I can present, an excerpt from Politico, whose cartoonist, Matt Wuerker, is also one of my favorites:

The Buffalo Newspaper Guild postponed an event at a local museum Thursday after receiving threats of violence aimed at a cartoonist whose work was featured in an exhibit.

“We wholly condemn the individuals who have chosen to twist a positive, public event into an attempt to terrorize and silence [cartoonist Adam] Zyglis, spread fear among journalists and their supporters, and distort the mission of a free press,” the guild wrote in a statement.

The threats against Zyglis, a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist at the Buffalo News in Western New York, began when he shared a cartoon that seemed to depict the Texas floods that killed 120 people and left over 170 missing.

In the cartoon, a man submerged in the water wearing a MAGA hat held up a sign that said “help.” A floating text box in the water read “gov’t is the problem not the solution.”

This cartoon attracted some attention in conservative media, with Fox News running an article and a White House spokesperson saying it was “shameful and disgusting” in a statement….

Of course “gov’t is the problem, not the solution” has been a slogan for many in MAGA for quite some time.

The Buffalo Newspaper Guild said Zyglis has received death threats following the publishing of the cartoon, as well as other threats toward his family. “Zyglis is an opinion cartoonist who puts his name to every cartoon he draws,” the union said in a statement. “…The Buffalo Newspaper Guild will not stand for physical threats of harm against him and his family. Those who stoop to such cowardly, disgraceful and anonymous acts must be held accountable.”

I’ll add more as details emerge. See two more Zyglis cartoons below. Here was the poster for the event canceled last night:

Allow me to briefly note again my own project for the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing. “The Atomic Bowl” film starts streaming on PBS tomorrow, and on stations rolling out over the next month. This is the link to the PBS preview page which will probably include the actual film starting on Saturday, but in any case, you will be able to find it somewhere at PBS.org and PBS apps. Also, I will point you to a new review of the film by the great Charlie Pierce at Esquire, with the evocative title. “The Atomic Bowl Is an Urgent Reminder of the Terrors of Nuclear War: The new PBS documentary is necessary viewing.” And one more time: the companion e-book.

With little time at hand, just two music picks today: the first new music in awhile from Neko Case, in advance of an upcoming album.

…and a just-released single from Jon Batiste’s upcoming album:

From Tunes to Toons

And a couple of recent ones from…Adam Zyglis: