Dupuis Editions withdrew from sale on Thursday the comic strip “Spirou and the Blue Gorgon”, accused of racism, particularly on social networks. They recognized “an error of assessment” and presented their “sincere apologies”.
“We have implemented the withdrawal of the book from all points of sale,” announces the publishing house in a press release on its site, as well as on the X network.
“In recent days, people have been speaking out more and more to express the anger felt at the representation of black people and women in the Spirou seen by Dany and Yann: “The Blue Gorgon” published in September 2023,” she writes.
“We are deeply sorry if this album could shock and hurt. This album is part of a caricature style of representation inherited from another era,” explains Dupuis.
External content
This external content cannot be displayed because it may collect personal data. To view this content you must authorize the category Social networks.
Accept More info
“Error of appreciation”
Several black characters are represented as monkeys in this comic strip. “More aware than ever of our moral duty and the importance of comics […] and more broadly the book in the evolution of societies, today we take full responsibility for this error of assessment”, declares the publisher, wishing “to present (its) most sincere apologies”.
The Belgian cartoonist Dany, 81, is particularly known for his albums with erotic humor such as the comic series “That interests you”. He became known in 1968 with the adventures of “Olivier Rameau”, whose drawings he signed.
In August 2023, interviewed by Paris Match on the work “The Blue Gorgon”, he indicated that he had “shown (his) sketches and (his) plates to (his) publisher”, who had “accepted and validated them”. He also specified that he had “redrawn” black women, “because I was told that they had too big lips”.
ats/exercise
