Editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette, who won a Pulitzer Prize while working at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was killed in a single-car accident Tuesday in Mississippi, authorities said. He was 57.
Marlette was a passenger in the car, which struck a tree in wet conditions just before 10 a.m., said John Garrison, the coroner in Mississippi’s Marshall County. “Evidently, it hydroplaned, left the highway and struck the tree. There was heavy rain in the area at the time.”
‘What would Muhammad drive?’ WND
Pulitzer-winner’s cartoon terrorist spurs death threats from Muslims
A Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist is under fire from Muslims for his depiction of a Middle Eastern-looking man behind the steering wheel of a nuclear-bomb laden truck under the headline, “What would Muhammad drive?”
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim World League are demanding an apology from Doug Marlette’s syndicator, Tribune Media Services, and from his employer, the Tallahassee Democrat.
The cartoon shows a Ryder rental truck like the one used by convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
In a phone interview, Marlette told WorldNetDaily he would not apologize, though he has received more than 4,500 e-mails from angry Muslims, with some threats of death and mutilation.
The Tallahassee Democrat also has declined to apologize, but primarily because it did not publish the cartoon in its print edition. The drawing appeared inadvertently on its website, however, before being pulled, according to the paper’s executive editor.
He explained that “to a cartoonist working in the current geo-political atmosphere, it is a natural step to ask, ‘What would Muhammad Drive?'”
Cartoonist Doug Marlette, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988, died Tuesday.
Rest in peace…
This prompted me to check out Doug Marlette on the web. While I don’t appreciate all his humour, I do respect his frankness, and no doubt he will be sorely missed. Just waiting now for a muslim spokesperson to claim ‘it was the will of allah!’
I also read his reaction to the call for an apology about the cartoon. I think he didn’t see ‘normal’ (average….moderate…???!!) islam as being a threat. In this, I think he was incorrect.
Sorry about Marlet.
The cartoon is cool. What car would Mohammad drive is actually a good question,. The world would be a different place had Mohammd been mechanised.
Mo’s current choices seem to be the Cherokee and the Merc. Low mileage, one owner, plenty of fuel, some body damage.
I think the only apology is due to the Ryder company to have their logo alongside of Mohammed.
I also wonder if it the crash was an accident. I am not too trustful of those who want us dead over things such as a cartoon while they foul what we believe in.
What would Mr. Perfect drive? That’s easy-a 747.
On second thought, Mo wouldn’t drive anything. Like the Bin Ladens of the world he’d have idiot followers do all the dirty work while he lived in comfort to a ripe old age.
Ouch! Truth hurts. What other types drive trucks loaded with bombs destined for mass murder? You could draw a pig driving the truck packed with explosives without reference to m0hammad and they’d still throw their usual hissy fit…
He’d drive a camel.. In reality they all want a Mercedes. They come to Germany because some idiot relative drives to somewhere in islamland in an old beat-up Mercedes he scared up by working off the books while collecting whatever handouts [jizya] he could get his dirty hands on..
Then they ALL get Merc hubcaps in their eyes.. and they all want to come to Germany..
Which makes Germany Hell on Earth for Germans and whatever other sane people [“infidels”] who live there.
He might have his eye on a used Popemobile.
Thank you for recognizing Doug Marlette. He was good friend of my wife and her family. The times I met him made a profound impact on me. He was all from the heart. No body was safe when ignorant.
I don’t believe Mr Marlette meant any harm to the religion just to those who hijaked a belief and twists it with their own hate.
Read his 2 books,”the Bridge” and “Magic Time”. You won’t be disappointed.