Last week legendary cartoonist R. Crumb disappointed Australian fans who were looking forward to a rare public appearance, when he withdrew, The cause was incendiary comments in a Sunday Telegraph piece called Smutty show a comic outrage which branded him a pervert.
In a letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Crumb explains himself a length, and to those who have branded him a woman-hating creep, it’s mostly to make his wife happy — she feared for his safety:
Sorry, folks. I do feel bad, as I hate letting people down. But I decided I’d rather bear the pain of letting people down than subjecting my long-suffering wife to a 10-day period of dread and anxiety for my well-being. She’s been awfully nice to me since I told her I wasn’t going! She baked a chocolate cake even!
I know, I know, it’s galling to give the Sunday Telegraph sleazeballs the satisfaction. ”Ha ha, we scared him off.” But they have already got what they wanted out of me anyway, which was to use me to make the City of Sydney look bad.
The worst part is the apparent irresponsibility of these cynical media hacks. What if I’d gone there, and what if some Mark Chapman-type person who’d read that article decided the world needed to be cleansed of scum like R. Crumb? (Mark Chapman shot John Lennon.) This possibility worried Aline deeply.
These travel concerns by a senior couple come off as a little self-absorbed here, but Crumb has certainly earned the right to stay at home.
BONUS: Here’s what else the Sunday Telegraph was running while decrying Crumb’s smut:
Via Dylan Horrocks
Their concerns would seem self-absorbed except for the fact that he had been ruthlessly demonized in a prominent Australian newspaper.
Go ahead and stay @home Crumb w/your chocolate cake, I’m sure Australia can supply their own PERV’s to the show!!! :-O
Robert: The NY Post (owned by Rupert Murdoch, as is the Telegraph) is a “prominent” NY tabloid, but not even its devotees think it’s a serious discussion of news and issues. Or if they do, it’s way less authoritative than Glen Beck. Based on the rest of the Telegraph website it seems to fall firmly in the Post camp. If you read the online comments on the Telegraph piece, they are all mocking the article’s tone.
Not that I blame the Crumbs for cancelling; I think they were giving a little too much credence to the influence of a tabloid, personally, but they’ve earned the right to go where they feel comfortable.
Murdoch’s publications have poisoned much of the world. The Australians deserve increasing isolation, until they can return to legitimate journalistic standards.
Good for Robert Crumb for cancelling! Don’t go where you are not welcome….
Australia is one of the countries which have criminalized artwork considered child pornography, so their commitment to freedom of the press isn’t as broad as it is in the U.S.
SRS
“Murdoch’s publications have poisoned much of the world. The Australians deserve increasing isolation, until they can return to legitimate journalistic standards.”
Pretty hilarious viewpoint, considering that Murdoch ‘defected’ to the USA some time ago.
The difference between the Sunday Telegraph’s mild smut and Robert Crumb’s exhibition is that the former is not government funded, the later was to be. It’s pretty legitimate to call government bodies on funding and supporting art that the majority of people aren’t comfortable with.
So, the government of various nations should only fund art that the majority of people are comfortable with..? There should be no funding for uncomfortable art..? Uncomfortable being one of the neighbors of thought-provoking, controversial & exciting.
..not that I should get my knickers too much in a twist. It’s not like a lot of art gets funded here, we’re not Canada.
Just because Murdoch came to the USA does not reduce his heinous crime of propagandic journalism. He makes William Randolph Hearst look like a saint….
“Just because Murdoch came to the USA does not reduce his heinous crime of propagandic journalism.”
You said “The Australians deserve increasing isolation.”
Murdoch coming to the USA doesn’t reduce his his heinous crime of propagandic journalism *and* it *does* make it illogical to isolate *Australia* to get back at Murdoch.
Meanwhile, here’s another guy the Beat’s regulars can rally around in its “They Hate Us!” category: http://www.justice.gov/usao/md/Public-Affairs/press_releases/press08/ConvictedRapistPleadsGuiltytoCoercingaMinorToEngageinSex.html
Sure, what Michael Allen Alper did *wrong* has nothing to do with the cartoon format and the criticism of Alper would be the same even if he had nothing to do with comics, but what Nate Fisher did *wrong* has nothing to do with the cartoon format either and the criticism of Fisher would be the same even if he had nothing to do with comics either.
Alper did find one of his victims at a an *anime* and gaming conference so you can call the conviction anti-anime, the same way Fisher held a student alone to share feelings about sex after reading a *comic book* so you call her family’s dislike of him anti-comic books.