30,000 Copies Of Spirou Et La Gorgone Bleue Graphic Novel Pulled From Shelves in France and Belgium Over Accusations of Racist Caricatures
The graphic novel, Spirou and the Blue Gorgon, or Spirou Et La Gorgone Bleue by Dany and Yann, a satirical tale of so-called "eco-terrorists", junk food and plastic rubbish was published in France/Belgium last autumn by Dupuis without fuss. But has been pulled off shelves across France after online objections over its racist depictions of black people with a "monkey appearance" as well as "hyper-sexualised" women.
One user Charlotte, posted a video on TikTok seen 3/4 of a million times, saying "Strangely enough, when you see white people, you can tell they are human, but when they are black, they clearly look like monkeys... and all women are hyper-sexualised,"
Publisher Dupuis responded to the controversy, saying the album "fits in a caricature style of representation inherited from another era", is "more aware than ever of our moral duty and the importance of comics" and must take into account "the evolution of society...We, therefore, take full responsibility for this error of judgment." "It was not our intention to shock or hurt anyone. We were very sad, but we understood. Therefore, we decided to withdraw the comic book from sale. We are very sorry," added Dupuis press officer Ines Cuesta Guerra. Approximately 30,000 copies would be removed from sale, the first such decision in Belgium.
Daniel Henrotin, or Dany, aged 81, said he had been emulating the style of the late André Franquin, best known for his cartoons in the fifties. Dany says he recognised he had "made a mistake... I'm truly sorry if I could have hurt anyone... "I heard it said that we cannot draw like that today. I respond that humour and caricature are in the DNA of the Belgian school of bande dessinée".
But Isabelle Debekker, the director of the Comic Strip Centre in Brussels told Le Soir "comics are automatically caricatures... It is up to us to be a little more intelligent, whether in our humour or our way of representing reality. I find it a shame that there are still people who do not understand what is problematic.".