French cartoonists are in trouble again

The freedom of a satirical cartoonist to satirise has limits even in France, it appears. The best-known, and best, French daily newspaper, Le Monde, this week bowed to some of its readers — and infuriated others — by apologising for a website cartoon which, it said, “could be interpreted” as an insult to transgender people and a “minimisation” of incest.

As a result, the cartoonist, Xavier Gorce, severed his 19-year relationship with the newspaper. “Freedom is not negotiable,” he tweeted. “I hope that the ‘woke’ culture that is now present in part of the Left-wing Anglo-Saxon press is not spilling over into the media in France.”

Gorce has not been the only person to contrast Le Monde’s near instant apology for his drawing and the newspaper’s passionate support for the moral and legal right of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed which offended many Muslims.

The incident is complicated. Le Monde did not remove the cartoon from its website and did not fire Mr Gorce. He left on a point of principle. The newspaper insists that its commitment to the freedom of the press and to publishing “challenging” cartoons remain intact. Editor Jérôme Fenoglio said on Wednesday that Le Monde had simply “recognised an error” in publishing a drawing which had upset many of its readers.