Cartoonist Art Spiegelman says he was asked to censor Trump criticism in work
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, 71, claims he was told to be 'apolitical' in his forthcoming work by the Folio Society
A Jewish cartoonist whose graphic Holocaust novel ‘Maus’ won the Pulitzer Prize has said he was asked to self-censor his criticism of Donald Trump from his introduction to a forthcoming book.
Art Spiegelman, 71, claims he was asked to stay “apolitical” by the Folio Society in the introduction to a book about the early days of Marvel comics, despite Marvel’s chairman having donated to hundreds of thousands to Trump’s election campaign.
In the offending paragraph, Spiegelman wrote about how “young Jewish creators of the first superheroes conjured up mythic – almost godlike – secular saviours” to address political issues of the 1930s and 40s.
He added: “In today’s all-too-real world, Captain America’s most nefarious villain, the Red Skull, is alive on screen and an Orange Skull haunts America.”
Spiegelman, who has compared Trump’s America to the years leading up to the Third Reich in Germany in the 1930s, said rather than make the required amends, he retracted the entire introduction and published it instead on The Guardian.
The Maus author suggested hypocrisy because Marvel Entertainment chairman, the US billionaire Isaac ‘Ike’ Perlmutter, has contributed to Trump’s campaign.
Spiegelman said Perlmutter was “a long-time friend of Donald Trump’s, an unofficial and influential adviser and a member of the president’s… Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida,” adding that Perlmutter and his wife both gave $360,000 each.
Trump was accused of stoking racial and ethnic tension last week by tweeting that he was considering naming anti-fascist organisation Antifa an “organisation of terror” just hours before a far-right rally in Portland.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
