The Gazette removes ‘Non-Sequitur’ comic following vulgarity

Dear Gazette readers,

We have decided to immediately replace the 'Non-Sequitur' syndicated comic in the daily and Sunday editions.

Sunday's version of the strip — under the guise of a children's coloring activity — contained an obscenity directed at President Donald Trump. Strip creator Wiley Miller acknowledged the insult Sunday in a tweet, calling it an 'Easter egg,' a term used in web development to highlight special hidden features or functions. It did not appear the text had been placed by accident.

The language crossed a profanity line for us.

Regardless of who the statement is directed at, such profane language would not be tolerated appearing in The Gazette by a staff member and, by extension, won't be tolerated from a syndicated cartoonist.

I apologize for its appearance in The Gazette. While I understand this decision likely will be questioned by some readers, it ultimately comes down to trust. A decision to place a vulgar message on a work product distributed broadly to the public shows poor judgment and betrays the trust.

We expect staff members and contributors to uphold content standards. This fell short.

We immediately are introducing the comic 'Macanudo,' by Liniers. The strip has been published in La Nacion since 2002, but recently was introduced into the United States.

Thank you for reading,

Zack Kucharski, Executive Editor

zack.kucharski@thegazette.com