Update 18/08/2025: Creative Loafing Tampa has readmitted Bob Whitmore as staff cartoonist today after hundreds of readers flooded the mailboxes of corporate and local editors with complaints about the decision to fire him last week for a cartoon that two readers denounced as "anti-Semitic".
More of the same, another case to add to the list. Another cartoonist fired on charges of anti-Semitism for a cartoon. You know, anti-Semitism is the catch-all for anything and everything and many US publishers do not hesitate to trample on freedom of speech, press and whatever else.
It is now Bob Whitmore's turn.
In the cartoon, entitled"Wailing Wall", a starving child in front of a wall crowned with barbed wire, behind which the Israeli flag appears, cries out:"Please give me food", a direct and obvious allusion to Israel's use of hunger as a weapon of war in Palestine. Not forgetting that, among other crimes, the genocidal state of Israel murders 28 children a day in Gaza.
The author recounted his dismissal on his Facebook account on 12 August:
Short version: I was fired from Creative Loafing for a cartoon that the editor had approved.
The full story: On 1 August, after the usual editorial approval process, this cartoon was published in Creative Loafing, a small weekly newspaper in Tampa, Florida.
On 5 August I received a call from my editor telling me that they had received two letters from readers who considered the cartoon to be anti-Semitic. The letters had been forwarded to the owners of Chava Communications, the company that owns Creative Loafing, and the publishers demanded that I be fired.
Without going into further details, yesterday, 11 August, I was told that the paper would no longer publish my cartoons, that I would be removed from the editorial team and that Creative Loafing was still considering publishing a letter of apology for publishing the cartoon.
I have contacted several groups, including cartoonistsrights.org/, for advice, advocacy and outreach. And now I turn to you to ask for your support.
If you think that comments about the situation in Gaza don't make you an anti-Semite, or at least you don't think a cartoonist should be cancelled because people didn't like his approved cartoon, email the editor of Creative Loafing. It's Ray Roa, his email is rroa@cltampa.com. Feel free to send a copy to your local editor, James Howard, at jhoward@cltampa.com, and/or corporate editor Michael Wagner, at michael@chavagroup.com.
Thank you for your support and for sharing this publication. Bob.
The Daily Cartoonist has found that the editors made good on their threat, and by 14 August, Withmore's name had been removed from the weekly's masthead.
Bob Whitmore also told the story in an interview with WMNF, a Tampa community radio station.
Whitmore told WMNF that,"although the cartoon appears to be a political statement about the famine and war in Gaza, CL' s parent company considers it anti-Semitic", adding that"dissent against Israel's actions in Gaza should not be considered anti-Semitism".
Whitmore claims his dismissal was the decision of Creative Loafing's corporate owners, not the local newsroom or editor-in-chief Ray Roa, who volunteers for WMNF. In a statement, Roa said: "For the record, I have been advised by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay' s attorney not to comment on the matter.
WMNF contacted Creative Loafing's corporate publisher, but the company has yet to comment.
The cartoonist, who is very clear that this is an act of censorship, warns that "If there is any kind of defamation or if I am branded as an anti-Semite and a leftist (sic), leaving me in a delicate situation, then it is certainly censorship. And it's very unfortunate, because I always thought I could get into trouble. And, as John Lewis says, you have to cause positive trouble. But I never thought it would be me against Creative Loafing. I always thought it would be Creative Loafing and Bob Whitmore against the world".
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
The d
