Officials from The Boston Herald will meet with the NAACP following the publication of an editorial cartoon many deemed offensive, reports The Associated Press. The cartoon, which the paper says was meant to satirize the White House intruder incident, features a man taking a bath while President Obama brushes his teeth. “Have you tried the new watermelon flavored toothpaste?” the man asks POTUS.
Jerry Holbert, the cartoonist, has apologized, saying he was inspired after finding watermelon-flavored toothpaste at his home. “I was completely naive or innocent to any racial connotations,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking along those lines at all.”
The newspaper has also apologized, saying, “Both the newspaper and cartoonist intended no such inference and immediately apologized for the pain its publication may have caused.”
The Boston-area NAACP organized the meeting between itself, officials from the newspaper, and the community members. It has also called on the newspaper to provide diversity training.