Fury erupts after The Guardian ran ‘anti-Semitic’ of ousted BBC boss

BBC chairman Richard Sharp resigns

A cartoon of ousted BBC chairman Richard Sharp has been removed from the website of The Guardian after it triggered a furious reaction over perceived anti-Semitism. The image, by Martin Rowson, shows Mr Sharp, who is Jewish, carrying a box marked Goldman Sachs, and containing a squid and what appeared to be a Rishi Sunak puppet. Beside him, sitting on a mountain of dung, is former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says: “Cheer up matey. I put you down for a peerage in my resignation honours list.”

Mr Sharp, who has worked for Goldman Sachs in the past, quit his post at the BBC on Friday after an independent investigation concluded he had broken the rules by not disclosing his involvement as an intermediary to help Mr Johnson secure an £800,000 loan guarantee.

Mr Rowson’s depiction of Mr Sharp is highly problematic, with critics including writer Dave Rich suggesting it reinforced stereotypes about Jewish people.

Mr Rich, who has written about anti-Semitism in the past, said the cartoon was in line with a “tradition of depicting Jews with outsized, grotesque features, often in conjunction with money and power”.

He added: “The problem is that a squid or octopus is also a common antisemitic motif, used to depict a supposed Jewish conspiracy with its tentacles wrapped around whatever parts of society the Jews supposedly control.

“Especially money. Are those gold coins in the box with Sharp’s squid?”

Laura Farris, Conservative MP for Newbury, tweeted: “This is an appallingly antisemitic cartoon from the @guardian.”

Ex-Chancellor Sajid Javid, the Tory MP for Bromsgrove, shared a cartoon by another Guardian cartoonist, Steve Bell, showing former Home Secretary Priti Patel with horns and a ring through her nose.

He commented: “Disappointed to see these tropes in today’s Guardian. Disturbing theme – or at best, lessons not learned?”

Christian Wakeford, the Labour MP for Bury South who defected from the Tories last year, posted: “These people aren’t stupid. They’re educated enough to know why this is wrong.

“The normalisation of antisemitism in society is still alive and well and needs stamping out. I hope The Guardian take swift disciplinary action.”

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Ex-Labour MP Ian Austin, who quit the party as a result of concerns about anti-Semitism during the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, tweeted: “What an utterly revolting cartoon, full of disgusting antisemitic imagery.

“It looks like something from a far-right Nazi publication but is in fact in @guardian and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

Meanwhile Stephen Pollard, The Jewish Chronicle’s Editor-at-Large, tweeted: ”It takes a lot to shock me. And I am well aware of The Guardian’s and especially Rowson’s form.

“But I still find it genuinely shocking that not a single person looked at this and said, no, we can’t run this. To me that’s the real issue.”

Mr Rowson himself tweeted: “Through carelessness and thoughtlessness I screwed up pretty badly with a Graun toon today & many people are understandably very upset. I genuinely apologise, unconditionally.”

A longer statement on his website added: “Sometimes, like in this case, in the mad rush to cram as much in as possible in the five or so hours available to me to produce the artwork by deadline, things go horribly wrong.

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“I know Richard Sharp is Jewish; actually, while we’re collecting networks of croneyism, I was at school with him, though I doubt he remembers me.

He continued: “His Jewishness never crossed my mind as I drew him as it’s wholly irrelevant to the story or his actions, and it played no conscious role in how I twisted his features according to the standard cartooning playbook.

“Likewise, the cute squid and the little Rishi were no more than that, a cartoon squid and a short Prime Minister, it never occurring to me that some might see them as puppets of Sharp, this being another notorious antisemitic trope.”

The Guardian said in a statement issued today: “We understand the concerns that have been raised.

“This cartoon does not meet our editorial standards, and we have decided to remove it from our website.

“The Guardian apologises to Mr Sharp, to the Jewish community and to anyone offended.”

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