I wrote this weekend that the contest was in poor taste, and that it was likely to attract extremely offensive submissions, but this seems to have surprised many of the people who publicized May 20 as “Draw Muhammad!” Day to begin with.
LA Times reports:
In declaring May 20th to be “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day,” Seattle artist Molly Norris created a poster-like cartoon showing many objects — from a cup of coffee to a box of pasta to a tomato — all claiming to be the likeness of Muhammad.
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That passion, it appears, has lessened. And fast. Her stark website today reads: “”I am NOT involved in “Everybody Draw Mohammd [sic] Day!”
“I made a cartoon that went viral and I am not going with it. Many other folks have used my cartoon to start sites, etc. Please go to them as I am a private person who draws stuff,” she writes.
That passion, it appears, has lessened. And fast.
Her stark website today reads: “”I am NOT involved in “Everybody Draw Mohammd [sic] Day!”
Witness the pathetic self-immolation of a chastened cartoonist.
Apparently Norris asked Dan Savage, who helped the image go viral, to withdraw the poster and replace it with a tamer one (he refused).
Promoters of the event on Facebook also got cold feet:
The creator of a Facebook page dedicated to the day has bowed out as well. Jon Wellington told the Washington Post (before abandoning ship) that he created the page because he “loved [Norris’s] creative approach to the whole thing — whimsical and nonjudgmental.”
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Apparently the posts weren’t “welcoming” enough, as on Sunday morning he announced his departure from the cause. “I am aghast that so many people are posting deeply offensive pictures of the Prophet,” he writes. “Y’all go ahead if that’s your bag, but count me out.”
Did he think people were going to post flattering images?
Sigh.