Daily Wildcat
Student newspaper apologizes, cartoonist fired for anti-gay comic
The comic strip by D.C. Parsons that appeared in the Daily Wildcat
The editor of the University of Arizona student newspaper has issued an apology and fired the cartoonist following backlash over a homophobic comic strip published Tuesday in the Daily Wildcat.
Created by student D.C. Parsons, the comic (above) depicts a father explaining to his young son, “If you ever tell me you’re gay … I will shoot you with my shotgun, roll you up in a carpet and throw you off a bridge.” The boy replies, “Well, I guess that’s what you call a ‘Fruit Roll Up,’” and the two share a hearty laugh.
The strip drew immediate condemnation both on campus and off, with a petition on Change.org demanding the firing of the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, cartoonist and copy editor attracting more than 4,600 signatures.