The controversial French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has made headlines once again after publishing a cartoon depicting Aylan Kurdi. The magazine is no stranger to sparking debates about free speech and racism, however many feel that it has gone too far this time.
The cartoon asks “What would little Aylan have grown up to be?” and is answered by “Ass groper in Germany”.
Please retweet I AM NOT CHARLIE HEBDO following insensitive, racist slurs against Aylan Kurdi/Syrians @EagleSyrian1 pic.twitter.com/KXezb7HMoI
— Therese Rickman-Bull (@teasiedoyle) January 14, 2016
Aylan Kurdi became a symbol of the plight of refugees after a photo emerged of the three-year-old Syrian child’s lifeless body washed up on a beach.
The reaction to the cartoon has been overwhelmingly negative, with many saying that the magazine was being openly racist and insulting. There are those, however, who have defended the cartoon by suggesting that Charlie Hebdo was in fact mocking the stereotypes people hold about refugees.
Some have said that while the cartoon may well be satirizing those who hold anti-refugee views, the depiction of Kurdi itself is bad taste.
See some of those varying reactions below, via Twitter.
Charlie Hebdo reminding us it's fine to be racist if you claim it's satire and scream freedom of speech https://t.co/FSvXZJJVjK
— Oana Buhus (@OanaBuhus) January 14, 2016@kshaheen You may find the use of a dead toddler to make a joke distasteful but they are mocking anti-refugee bigots, not the refugees.
— Graeme (@Grafne) January 14, 2016Charlie Hebdo feels that little drowned boy Aylan Kurdi would have grown up to become an ass groper. Martyrs of free speech crossing lines
— Serpent (@Saanmp) January 14, 2016Charlie Hebdo's Aylan cartoon may be an expression of free speech, but morally and politically it's an obscenity. https://t.co/dwLB6Lxkhn
— Adam Shatz (@adamshatz) January 13, 2016Once again #CharlieHebdo succeeds in confusing those who are so ready to be offended. He mocks your stereotypes, Sir https://t.co/n2AhIoWpAs
— H x (@Lioness_Haz) January 14, 2016
