Editorial Cartoonists' Hate Mail

Dave Astor at Editor and Publisher has been writing about the annual Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention this past weekend. I was just reading one about a cartoonists' panel on hate mail:

"Panelist Ted Rall had a much more frightening experience with firefighters. As many readers know, the Universal Press Syndicate creator did some hard-hitting cartoons after 9/11 -- including the 'Terror Widows' one about how some women seemed to be capitalizing on their husbands' 9/11 deaths.

"Firefighters not pleased with Rall's work came to the cartoonist's New York City apartment building one day. "I was on the sixth floor, and I looked out the window and saw a big red truck," remembered the AAEC president-elect. 'There were 40 guys in front of the building with axes telling the superintendent that they were going to kick my ass.'

"Rall at first didn't know what to do. 'Calling 911 wouldn't have helped -- they would have told me 'don't worry, firefighters are on the scene,' he joked at the AAEC session."

More here.

And congrats on Ted Rall, new AAEC president!