Backlash at ‘appalling’ Guardian cartoon of Keir Starmer offering Jeremy Corbyn’s head on a plate day after Nice attack
THE Guardian was hit with a furious backlash over an “appalling” cartoon of Sir Keir Starmer offering Jeremy Corbyn’s head on a plate hours after the Nice terror attack.
Some branded the cartoon anti-semitic and others who saw it on social media said they had reported it for race hate.
It also drew anger on the day an Islamist terrorist beheaded a woman in a sickening attack on a Catholic church in Nice, killing three people.
Critics slammed Steve Bell’s sketch, which was compared to Caravaggio’s 17th century painting Salome with the Head of John the Baptist.
The cartoon was blasted for appearing to compare Mr Corbyn’s suspension from the Labour Party yesterday with the New Testament story where Salome – King Herod’s daughter – demands the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
Mr Corbyn was suspended following his reaction to a bombshell Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report into anti-semitism in the party.
‘REPELLENT’
The EHRC investigation found Labour had engaged in “unlawful” harassment and discrimination under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.
Labour peer Lord Andrew Adonis said: ‘Today’s Guardian cartoon by Steve Bell is repellent.
“It portrays Corbyn as victim of a sinister and murderously violent plot, which may be how the anti-semitic far left see yesterday’s events but is appalling to the rest of us.”
Joanne Bell posted: “The Guardian is the paper of record for LabourAntisemitism.
It portrays Corbyn as victim of a sinister and murderously violent plot, which may be how the anti-semitic far left see yesterday’s events but is appalling to the rest of us
Labour peer Lord Andonis
“How better to portray the issue of Corbyn’s expulsion than in a classically Christian antisemitic reworking of the Jewish Salome slaying the pure Christian, John the Baptist?
“Make no mistake, this is no mere mistake.”
Mark Paine wrote: “I reported Steve Bell’s cartoon as race hate.
“He knew exactly what he was doing as did they when they published it.
“I used to be a Guardian reader but I won’t be purchasing that rag again.’
In yesterday’s terror outrage in Nice, Tunisian migrant Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, used a foot-long knife to butcher his victims at the Notre-Dame basilica.
Sacristan Vincent Loquès, 54, had his throat slit as he prepared for the first Mass of the day, while one woman was found beheaded near the holy water font.
Director of think tank British Future Sunder Katwala said: “The Guardian has published a cartoon of a beheading, in which Jeremy Corbyn is portrayed as the martyr St John the Baptist at the court of King Herod.
“There are at least two big reasons to question the editorial judgement, in terms of the content and the timing – France – too.”
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Pat Harkin said: “On a day a young French girl is beheaded I really find this cartoon seriously misjudged.”
A spokesman for The Guardian said: “The Steve Bell cartoon published today portrays his observation on the recent events in the Labour party.”