More than twenty newspapers have pulled an upcoming “Non Sequitur” comic strip and are afraid to publish it for having mentioned the word “Mohammad.”
The Daily Cartoonist who reported this news describes the offending strip thusly:
The cartoon by Wiley Miller depicts a lazy, sunny park scene with the caption, “Picture book title voted least likely to ever find a publisher… ‘Where’s Muhammad?'” Characters in the park are buying ice cream, fishing, roller skating, etc. No character is depicted as even Middle Eastern.
This is the second time “Non Sequitur” creator Wiley Miller has sounded off on the importance of free speech and the second time he has written a strip mentioning Muhammad among the face of extremist pressure.
Earlier this month, Seattle Weekly cartoonist Molly Norris was told by the FBI to go into hiding as her life was threatened by extremists for her involvement with the controversial “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” event. Norris was advised to “go ghost” and to disappear from her life.
Although Miller is not in any danger, he is experiencing another level of irony. And his response to his strip not being published? Wiley tells Daily Cartoonist:
“The irony of editors being afraid to run even such a tame cartoon as this that satirizes the blinding fear in media regarding anything surrounding Islam sadly speaks for itself. Indeed, the terrorists have won.”