The Age newspaper apologises for ‘racist’ cartoon

An Aussie newspaper editor has been forced to apologise on his first day in the job after a cartoon described by some as racist was printed.

The new editor of The Age newspaper has been forced to apologise on his first day of the job after a “racist” cartoon in the paper’s Sunday edition sparked social media outrage.

The cartoon, which appeared in The Sunday Age last weekend, depicted two black female actors performing in the award-winning play Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner – a play which the masthead refused to review unless it was allowed to send a white critic for free.

Online outrage, led by community theatre group Stage a Change, was swift and heated.

In a post on its Facebook page on Sunday, Stage a Change described The Age’s caricature of the black actors as “abhorrent” and “disgusting”.

“Frankly speaking, this article is dipped in, spackled with, and power washed down with so much fragility,” the scathing post read.

“Fragility that has missed the point and self-aggrandised so epically.”

The new editor of The Age newspaper, Patrick Elligett. Picture: Twitter

Another user called the cartoon and accompanying opinion piece “absolutely disgusting”.

“(It) ultimately highlights the fact that The Age could not find a single PoC (person of colour) to review a play they admit has a specific purpose of promoting woc (women of colour),” the user wrote.

The Age’s cartoon was removed after some deemed it was racist. Picture: The Sunday Age

The “offensive” cartoon ran alongside an opinion piece by arts editor Elizabeth Flux, who said the paper would not be reviewing Seven Methods unless it was allowed to send a white critic for free – adding yet more fuel to the fire.

The award-winning play, written by British playwright Jasmine Lee-Jones, follows two young black women – one of whom finds herself at the centre of a social media storm after calling out Kylie Jenner for co-opting black aesthetics on Twitter.

Ms Flux accused the play’s producers, Amylia Harris and Leila Enright, of “tokenism” for refusing to provide free tickets to white reviewers.

Absolutely disgusting by @theage@ElizabethFlux the editorial decision to run this cartoon with this ridiculous article that ultimately highlights the fact that the age could not find a single PoC to review a play they admit has a specific purpose of promoting woc is bonkers. https://t.co/g4OYMiGmNY

— Sayo. (@sayoog) January 30, 2023

Being forced to select a person of colour to review the play was “offensive” and “undermined” the health of the critical landscape, Ms Flux wrote.

Ms Flux, who described herself as “a Hong-Kong-born Eurasian who was raised in Australia”, also pointed out neither of the two producers behind the decision was a person of colour.

She included a joint statement from Ms Harris and Ms Enright which said “Our intention is not to be exclusionary, but to use this opportunity to continue to encourage media organisations to increase representation in their teams for the benefit of artists, audiences and their readership.”

Ms Flux claimed she wasn’t aware of the cartoon that ran alongside her article until she saw it in the paper on Sunday morning.

It ran alongside an opinion piece by Elizabeth Flux, who said the paper wouldn’t publish a review if they weren’t allowed to send a white reviewer for free. Picture: Twitter

Patrick Elligett, who debuted as editor of the Victorian-based masthead this week, ran an “unreserved” apology online and in Tuesday’s newspaper in which he conceded the cartoon was “offensive”.

“The Age accepts that the cartoon, in its depiction of people of colour, was offensive. The Age apologises unreservedly and withdraws its publication,” read the apology.

Elligett did not respond to questions from The Australian about which specific aspects of the cartoon were “offensive” – while cartoonist Joe Benke insisted he “didn’t excessively caricature” the two actors.

It was “difficult to illustrate persons of colour without getting into hot water”, Benke said, adding: “Next time I guess I’ll just have to draw them as silhouettes or something.”

While the cartoon has been removed from The Age’s online library, and deleted from the copy of the newspaper that appears on the State Library of Victoria’s website, Elligett stood by Flux’s scathing opinion piece.

“We stand by the decision to publish Flux’s opinion and remain committed to publishing commentary and reporting on issues of race and identity within the arts. The Age condemns the abuse directed at Flux on social media,” he said.