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Guardian cartoonist rekindles anti-Semitism row with ‘insincere’ apology

The cartoonist Martin Rowson - Chris Jackson/Getty Images
The cartoonist Martin Rowson - Chris Jackson/Getty Images

An apology from the Guardian cartoonist accused of anti-Semitism has been branded “insincere” after it emerged that he said any “offence was in the eye of the beholder”.

Martin Rowson apologised after he was accused of using “notorious anti-Semitic tropes” in an illustration about Richard Sharp’s resignation as BBC chairman.

The cartoon featured a grinning caricature of Mr Sharp with an enlarged nose carrying a Goldman Sachs box that contained a number of items including Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister. A pig’s head was featured behind him.

Mr Sharp resigned from his role as BBC chairman on Friday after he was found to have broken rules on public appointments by failing to declare his involvement in an £800,000 loan for Boris Johnson.

Mr Sharp - House of Commons/PA
Mr Sharp - House of Commons/PA

After public outrage, The Guardian withdrew the cartoon from its website on Saturday, claiming that it did not meet its editorial standards.

In a 1,000-word apology posted on his website, Mr Rowson said that the Goldman Sachs reference was related to the fact that Mr Sunak worked for Mr Sharp at the bank and was intended as a reference to the “networks of cronyism”.

Mr Rowson said he knew Mr Sharp was Jewish as the pair went to school together, but claims that this fact “never crossed my mind as I drew him”.

He added that he had not considered that it would be interpreted that he was portraying Mr Sunak as a puppet of Mr Sharp which he admitted was “another notorious anti-Semitic trope”.

“I apologise, though I’m not going to repeat the current formulation by saying I’m sorry if people were upset, which is always code for ‘I’ve done nothing wrong, you’re just oversensitive.’ This is on me, even if accidentally or, more precisely, thoughtlessly,” he wrote.

He said that “the cartoon was a failure” and he had “offended the wrong people”, adding: “Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.”

But hours later, a message emerged in which Mr Rowson told a supporter: “Any offence, I fear, is in the eye of the beholder rather than the intention or agency of the cartoonist. That’s a block I’ve been round many many times.”

The leaked message was posted by Never Again, a social media account that campaigns against anti-Semitism. It said that the direct message on Twitter made “clear that his apology was a sham”.

Calls for Viner and Rowson to resign

After the details of the message emerged, The National Jewish Assembly (NJA) said that it reveals Mr Rowson’s apology was “insincere”

They compared it to an apology from Diane Abbott a week earlier, in which the MP apologised for saying Jewish people had not been subject to racism but blamed it on that fact her letter to The Observer was a first draft.

The NJA said: “Just as with Diane Abbott’s ‘apology’, it is seen that Martin Rowson’s ‘apology’ is insincere as well. This is why we will continue to call out anti-Semitism even after an ‘apology’ has been made.”

The organisation has called for both Katherine Viner, The Guardian’s editor-in-chief, and Mr Rowson to be dismissed.

The Guardian said in a statement that it apologises “to Mr Sharp, to the Jewish community and to anyone offended”.

The newspaper said that it had nothing to add when asked if Ms Viner would meet with Jewish groups or whether it would still feature Mr Rowson’s cartoons.

‘I misspoke’

In an “addendum” to his original apology on Sunday, Mr Rowson addressed the leaked message, saying that because of the way he “worded it it appeared that I accepted no responsibility”.

He added: “I misspoke. At the time I was still processing the storm I’d inadvertently caused, and to be honest I was in a state of shock as I’d never intended – idiotically, crassly and carelessly – to depict anti-Semitic tropes. Between that DM and me writing my apology, I fully realised the depth of my mistake.”