LONDON: The Guardian newspaper has issued an apology after a caricature depicted former BBC chairman Richard Sharp as antisemitic a day after his retirement.
The picture was released a day after Sharp left as the BBC chairman due to a conflict of interest.
Richard Sharp, the former chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation, resigned from his post over his involvement in an £800,000 ($1 million) loan to former British prime minister Boris Johnson. Sharp had acted as a go-between to facilitate the loan, raising questions about the broadcaster’s impartiality.
The controversy had already caused a distraction for both the broadcaster and the government, with Sharp’s close past ties to the Conservative party being heavily criticised by opposition parties.
The cartoon featured Sharp, a Jew, with exaggerated characteristics and a puppet of Rishi Sunak in his hand. It “falls directly into an antisemitic tradition,” according to one Jewish organisation, the BBC said.
The Community Security Trust (CST) charity’s head of strategy, Dave Rich, said it was reminiscent of past representations of Jews that featured them “with outsized, monstrous features, often coupled with money and power.”
Rich, the author of a book on antisemitism, claimed that throughout history, racist cartoons targeting Jews have shown them with exaggerated characteristics.
A representative for The Guardian said, “We recognise the concerns that have been voiced. Since this cartoon does not adhere to our editorial standards, it has been taken down from our website. The Guardian expresses regret to Sharp, the Jewish community, and anyone else hurt. Since then, it has been taken off from the publication’s website.
The Jewish Chronicle’s editor-at-large Stephen Pollard attacked The Guardian for running it, calling it “truly shocking that not a single person examined this and said ‘no, we can’t run this.'” That seems to be the real problem.
Actress Tracy-Ann Oberman, who has previously spoken out against anti-Jewish prejudice, claimed that she had a “double-take” when first seeing the picture.
The drawing’s creator, Martin Rowson, has also apologised, stating he was pressured to finish the piece by a deadline and did not intend for it to be offensive or contain any negative connotations.
He said that he went to school with Sharp and was aware of his Jewishness, but “his Jewishness never crossed my mind as I drew him,” describing the cartoon as a failure on many levels.
He made a long statement in which he said: “To operate appropriately, cartoons almost more than any other component of journalism demand continual vigilance, against unconscious prejudice as well as things that should be clear that in this instance, unforgivably, I didn’t even think about.
“To further our satirical objectives, we must respect some sensibilities.”
The BBC and Sharp both declined to comment.
