Kentucky Gov.-Elect Matt Bevin Calls Political Cartoon Depicting Him and His Children an 'Overtly Racist Attack' — and the Cartoonist Responds

Kentucky Gov.-elect Matt Bevin has denounced an editorial cartoon depicting him along with his four adopted children from Ethiopia as an "overtly racist attack."

The Lexington @HeraldLeader published this cartoon about KY governor @MattBevin’s adopted kids. Lower than dirt. pic.twitter.com/vnLa3a4hEZ

— Denny Burk (@DennyBurk) November 20, 2015

The cartoon — drawn by the Lexington Herald-Leader's Joel Pett, a Pulitzer Prize winner — depicts Bevin hiding underneath his desk adored with photo frames of his adopted children. What appears to be an aide stands by the desk holding a photo and tells Bevin, "Sir, they're not terrorists...They're your own adopted kids!"

Matt Bevin's children (Image source: WKYT-TV)

Pett indicated that his cartoon was meant to chide Bevin — a Republican and Tea Party favorite — for opposing Syrian refugee resettlement in Kentucky.

But Bevin didn't hold back his outrage over what the cartoon said to him:

The tone of racial intolerance being struck by the @HeraldLeader has no place in Kentucky and won't be tolerated by our administration (2/2)

— Matt Bevin (@MattBevin)

November 19, 2015

"Shame on the Lexington @HeraldLeader for publishing a deplorable, overtly racist attack on my children," Bevin tweeted, adding that the "tone of racial intolerance being struck by the @HeraldLeader has no place in Kentucky and won't be tolerated by our administration."

A chorus of denunciations followed the publication of the cartoon, with at least one asking if a Democrat would have been similarly depicted.

Andrew H. Scott, mayor of Coal Run, Kentucky, also took issue with it:

As the son of a public official myself, I am saddened by the racist @heraldleader cartoon mocking #KYGov @MattBevin. pic.twitter.com/dzSxqsT3DX

— Andrew H. Scott (@CommissionerKY) November 19, 2015

As did the Republican Governors Association:

The @HeraldLeader should be ashamed for printing this disgusting cartoon about @MattBevin's family: https://t.co/4p9mRjuaBs

— The RGA (@The_RGA) November 19, 2015

While Pett wrote on the Herald-Leader's website that the governor-elect's adoption of his children "is the thing I admire the most about Bevin," he told WKYT-TV that in his cartoon "the children were mere props in it, much the same way they were props in his campaign commercials."

(H/T: WXIX-TV)

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