On Saturday (April 29), the British daily The Guardian courted controversy after it published a vile, anti-Semitic cartoon depicting the resignation of former banker Richard Sharp from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The cartoon, which was drawn by one Martin Rowson, featured the former BBC Chairman walking out of the office with a box of octopuses/squids. The disturbing artwork also had a swine in the background, an animal whose consumption is strictly prohibited in Judaism.
Anti-Semitism of The Guardian called out on social media
It must be mentioned that Richard Sharp is a Jew by Faith who proactively supports Israel and as such the cartoon targeting the ex-BBC Chair was clearly directed towards his religious beliefs.
During the Nazi era, propaganda material depicting the Jewish community as ‘squids’, and ‘octopuses’ and controlling global affairs of the world, was in wide circulation.
Popular Jewish handles on social media were aghast at the anti-Semitic cartoon published by The Guardian. Head of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST), Dave Rich, pointed out the history behind the ugly depiction of Jewish people as animals.
“The problem is that a squid or octopus is also a common antisemitic motif, used to depict a supposed Jewish conspiracy with its tentacles wrapped around whatever parts of society the Jews supposedly control. Especially money. Are those gold coins in the box with Sharp’s squid?” he said.
Editor of ‘The Jewish Chronicle, Stephen Pollard, wrote, “It takes a lot to shock me. And I am well aware of the Guardian’s and especially Rowson’s form. But I still find it genuinely shocking that not a single person looked at this and said, no, we can’t run this. To me that’s the real issue.”
Even the former Mayor of London, Sajid Javid, was forced to tweet, “Today’s Guardian cartoon wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Nazi newspaper. Guardian really should have known better.”
The Guardian retracts controversial cartoon
Following social media outrage, The Guardian had no choice but to retract its despicable ‘Nazi-inspired’ cartoon. In a statement, it said, “The cartoon that was posted here today did not meet our editorial standards, and we have decided to remove it from our website.”
The British daily however did not cite any apology for its actions.
Meanwhile, cartoonist Martin Rowson blamed his anti-Semitic cartoon on ‘carlessness’ and ‘thoughtlessness.’ He had said, “I screwed up pretty badly with a Graun toon today & many people are understandably very upset. I genuinely apologise, unconditionally.”
Events leading upto the resignation of Richard Sharp
On Friday (April 28), former BBC Chairman Richard Sharp resigned from his post after being found guilty of quid pro quo. It was earlier revealed that he helped former Prime Minister Boris Johnson secure a loan of £800,000 (₹8.03 crores).
A regular donor to the Conservative Party, Sharp had reportedly introduced a ‘friend’ named Sam Blyth to Britain’s Cabinet Secretary and Head of Civil Service, Simon Case.
Interestingly, Sam Blyth is a multi-millionaire businessman, who proposed to serve as the credit guarantor for the loan sanctioned to Boris Johnson, his distant cousin. The said meeting took place in late 2020 when Johnson was Britain’s Prime Minister.
Soon after, in January 2021, the name of Richard Sharp was recommended for the Chairperson of the BBC for a four-year term by the same Johnson administration. Sharp was appointed for the position the following month.
According to The Sunday Times, the £8,00,000 loan was finalised only in February 2021 (the same month as the appointment of Richard Sharp). Soon after, the BBC Chair was investigated for a possible ‘conflict of interest.’