Obama Joker poster denounced as racist..

britexpat
By britexpat

A poster depicting President Barack Obama as Heath Ledger's "Joker" character from "The Dark Knight" has sparked controversy after it appeared on the streets of Los Angeles.

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The poster shows the US president with white face paint, dark eye shadow and smudged red lipstick above the caption "socialism", in an apparent attack on the US president's efforts to reform health care and stimulus spending.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, denounced the image and called on those behind it to reveal themselves. "Depicting the president as demonic and a socialist goes beyond political spoofery.

"We have issued a public challenge to the person or group that put up the poster to come forth and publicly tell why they have used this offensive depiction to ridicule President Obama."

Some Right-wing commentators have seized approvingly on the image. Thomas Lifson wrote on the conservative American Thinker website: "It is starting. Open mockery of Barack Obama, as disillusionment sets in with the man, his policies, and the phony image of a race-healing, brilliant, scholarly, middle-of-the-roader."

The liberal tabloid "LA Weekly", which depicted George W. Bush, the former president, as Dracula on its cover in 2004, denounced the Obama-Joker poster as virulently racist.

"It has a bit of everything to appeal to the drunk tank of California conservatism: Obama is in white face, his mouth (like Ledger's Joker's) has been grotesquely slit wide open and the word 'Socialism' appears below his face," wrote its blogger Steven Mikulan. "The only thing missing is a noose."

By SpikenButchsMom• 5 Aug 2009 16:44
SpikenButchsMom

is being displayed by LA Weekly and others screaming foul?

How can, "Depicting the president as demonic" go "beyond political spoofery" when that's precisely what they did to his predecessor? What happened to the great liberal cry of how criticizing those in power IS patriotism? Like or hate a president, freedom of speech is still freedom of speech.

Their cry of "Racism!" is nothing but a cover for their pathetic hypocrisy. And their crying wolf in these instances only serves to deteriorate race relations in the U.S. Shame on them.

By britexpat• 5 Aug 2009 16:18
britexpat

"It is unknown who created and distributed the image, which some believe has racial overtones because it shows Mr Obama as a black-and-white minstrel in reverse."

Rather weak, but his supporters are up in arms..

By Stone Cold• 5 Aug 2009 13:30
Stone Cold

At least posters like this is still tolerable in the US, In the middle east you will be hang to death.

By Gypsy• 5 Aug 2009 13:15
Rating: 2/5
Gypsy

LOl. So do I Labda. And honestly portraying Obama as the joker has the opposite effect on me. I think he's even cooler now! Yay socialism!

By labda06• 5 Aug 2009 12:59
labda06

haha, I found it hard to keep a straight face looking at that poster. It's funny. I love the joker, I want to watch Dark Knight again now!!

By Gypsy• 5 Aug 2009 12:03
Rating: 4/5
Gypsy

The only possible link to racism is that it's a little bit like black face. However you would have to have been living in a hole for the last 2 years if you don't realizing they are copying the joker.

By edifis• 5 Aug 2009 11:53
edifis

I am not a hippo. I am human.

By tallg• 5 Aug 2009 11:52
tallg

Thank you Gypsy. I've now taken my comedy glasses off and can read properly.

There's nothing racist about this poster, imo.

By winterrain• 5 Aug 2009 11:50
winterrain

always hypo....

he should shut his mouth sometimes...

By duglas• 5 Aug 2009 11:46
duglas

The problem is that many americans, predominantly conservatives, have not been able to accept that their president is black.

And whats wrong with socialism, Jesus was a socialist

By anonymous• 5 Aug 2009 11:43
anonymous

edifis, the problem is that the most "politically correct" people are US citizens and they invented "Your Mama" jokes...as you said:hypocrites!

By edifis• 5 Aug 2009 11:38
edifis

Thats a problem. If we can make a joke about a blond or a white the whites should be able to make a joke about the blacks and browns too without someone finding racial implications on the joke. But things doesn't work like that. Which means the world is full of racists and hypocrites too.

Half the time a white person will have a problem with a joke on blacks even if the joke isn't racial. He wants to be too much PC!

By britexpat• 5 Aug 2009 11:33
britexpat

My apologies..

Full article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5973064/Barack-Obama-Joker-socialism-poster-denounced-as-racist.html

If you google, as I did, there are other articles suggesting racism..

By anonymous• 5 Aug 2009 11:31
anonymous

Source:

- A study Conducted by FriedUnicorn - Vol I (September,1999)

By Gypsy• 5 Aug 2009 11:29
Rating: 5/5
Gypsy

Bottom half Tallg:

The liberal tabloid "LA Weekly", which depicted George W. Bush, the former president, as Dracula on its cover in 2004, denounced the Obama-Joker poster as virulently racist.

"It has a bit of everything to appeal to the drunk tank of California conservatism: Obama is in white face, his mouth (like Ledger's Joker's) has been grotesquely slit wide open and the word 'Socialism' appears below his face," wrote its blogger Steven Mikulan. "The only thing missing is a noose."

By tallg• 5 Aug 2009 11:23
tallg

Where does the article say anything about racism?

Source?

By Gypsy• 5 Aug 2009 11:20
Rating: 4/5
Gypsy

I don't think the people who made it had any racial intent whatsoever, rather they grasped on to a popular icon at the moment.

I have a feeling though that anything to do with Obama that's not complimentary will be labeled automatically as racist.

By anonymous• 5 Aug 2009 11:20
Rating: 2/5
anonymous

He's not a joker. He's a puppet...Nice poster though...

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