When Taylor Swift was named entertainer of the year for the second year in a row at the Academy of Country Music Awards, I bet she didn’t think things could get much better. Unfortunately, there was no way she could foresee the chance cartoon encounter she would soon make with brilliant caricaturist Taylor Jones.
Taylor usually reserves his sharp pen skills for skewering politicians and entertainers, but just this once he couldn’t help but insert himself into one of his cartoons. I asked him why he went this route with his cartoon, and here is his response:
It’s a running joke that I’m about as skinny as an adult man can be without being terminally ill. Like most people in the comedy industrial complex (which includes editorial cartooning), I poke fun at myself to mask my pain, insecurities and stupidity.
Taylor Swift and I are EXACTLY the same height and build — though even she has a bigger chest than me! Add the fact that 90% of people with the first name of Taylor are females under the age of 30, and you have comedy gold! Well, pewter, anyway.
The big cigar and little “junk” in this Rush Limbaugh portrait made me laugh. I told Taylor Jones that it was a great cartoon, even though there won’t be many newspapers that will print it.
I asked Taylor what his thoughts were behind the cartoon. Here’s what he wrote me:
Rush Limbaugh’s crude, on-air rant against Sandra Fluke had me flummoxed at first. How to handle such a subject in editorial cartoon form, especially since I’d been tied up with other work and was coming late to the Rush story? Then it suddenly occurred to me that the man is just plain gross, and that simplified my task. I began to picture Rush as the late, great portrait painter Lucien Freud might have. Only Freud wouldn’t have been nearly so kind.
…Besides, I thought the depiction of a naked Limbaugh would compliment my recent caricature of Rick Santorum with a giant condom pulled over his head.
My first rough sketches actually featured Rush in more full-frontal nudity. But then I figured that a three-quarter view would have more impact. Revealing a sort of less-is-more concept, if you know what I mean.
Last week, our brilliant caricacturist Taylor Jones (view more of Taylor’s cartoons here) drew a cartoon featuring Ron Paul wearing a Klansman’s robes. This was in response to the news of racists diatribes appearing in newsletter printed by Ron Paul more than 20 years ago. Paul has denied writing these, but refuses to say who might have, or explain how they ended up in his newsletters.
The cartoon obviously toched a nerve for Ron Paul supporters and non-supporters alike. We asked what you thought of the cartoon, and boy, did you tell us! Here’s a sampling:
Sandra Chung – If GOP candidates can make crap up about their opposing members, or others, then they shouldn’t be surprised or offended when their own past comes back to bite em on the ass.
Johnz Thomaz – He is not a racist, and has supported policies for years that would treat people as individuals, which is the ultimate way to break racial walls.
Dennis Jasinski – Typical political mud-slinging.
John Berger – When all else fails, call the person a racist, bigot, sexist, homophobe, adulterer, drug user, nazi, etc. and go back as far in time as is necessary to justify it.
Tyler Yaeger – At this point, I don’t think it’s fair to call Paul a racist, but he’s certainly worked with a lot, and has the support of a lot of them.
James Chapman – Absolutely fair. If he is going to demonize Hispanics, African-Americans, and Homosexuals then he better be prepared for the blowback. Besides I don’t see him giving back that $1 million that was raised from those racist newsletters.
Joe Sexton – There must be some reason why certain racists support him and donate money to his campaign. Does that make him a racist or just an opportunist–like just about all politicians?
Anika Denton – I loathe Ron Paul and his brain dead acolytes, but this is just lazy and not even clever. It’s one thing to be a bigot, but a Klan robe should be reserved for the likes of Pat Buchanan or Rick Perry.
Supa Charger – Ron Paul would protect your right to do this, would any of the other do the same?
Eating Steak – This is all you got? Some years-old stale newsletters accusing the Republican who scores the highest with non-whites of being a racist?
History Squared – Not really fair, since they weren’t his words, whereas Obama says he lied and was ashamed of his white heritage. Anything on that? Of course not.
