Washington, May 22: An American cartoonist whose work inspired the controversial ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Page’ on Facebook has condemned the effort and issued an apology to Muslims.
Molly Norris, of Seattle, drew a cartoon in April to protest the decision by the US TV channel Comedy Central to cancel an episode of the popular show ‘South Park’ over its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) in a bear suit. In her cartoon, Norris satirically proposed May 20 as an ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day’.
An ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day’ page quickly turned up on Facebook but Norris said she had nothing to do with it. “I did NOT ‘declare’ May 20 to be ‘Everybody Draw Mohammed Day’,” she said, adding her idea was satire but “was taken seriously, hijacked and made viral”.
“I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this ‘day’ be called off,” she said. Among the dozens of pictures submitted to the page are depictions of a man in Arab garb engaged in sexual acts.
-Agencies