Boondocks Censored...Again

Print-friendly Page

On July 14 and 17, Chicago Tribune editors decided not to publish Boondocks, Aaron McGruder's daily hard-hitting comic strip. This isn't the first time the strip has been censored, but the weasely denial of censorship by the Tribune's ombudsman Don Wycliff was exceptional. After the Tribune substituted an old Boondocks strip without notifying readers that they refused to publish McGruder's intended cartoon, Wycliff said "The very fact that readers could find the strips elsewhere indicates that they were not censored." By this definition, censorship does not exist.

Wycliff continued, "We are not an unfiltered receptacle for tasteless, libelous or otherwise unfair cartoons." Uh, Mr. Wycliff, if unfairness or questionable taste was cause to banish political cartoons, they wouldn't exist.

Here's the July 17 strip, jabbing George W. Bush for his infamous taunt at Iraqi fighters to "Bring it on."

July 17, 2003 Boondocks jabbing George W. Bush for his taunt at Iraqi fighters to "Bring it on."

© 2003 Aaron McGruder

Perhaps McGruder's most famous and widely censored Boondocks cartoon ran two months after the September 11 attacks. Pointing out the fact that the Reagan Administration directly funded Osama Bin Laden and his fighters wasn't acceptable to many corporate media outlets.