In a press release published on social networks, the Dupuis editions announced, on Thursday, October 31, that they were going to withdraw an album of the adventures of Spirou and Fantasio, published in September 2023, accused of containing racist caricatures of black characters, drawn as monkeys, and of depicting female characters in a highly sexualized manner.
The album, The Blue Gorgonwritten by Yann and drawn by Dany, two figures of Franco-Belgian comics from the 1970s and 1980s, was accused of racism in a TikTok video published on October 27, and then in numerous messages published on Boidin that asks: “May I know who validated the latest Spirou at @EditionsDupuis? Is the RN membership card provided with the BD? »
“In recent days, people have increasingly spoken out to express the anger they feel at the representation of black people and women in “Spirou vu par” by Dany and Yann, The Blue Gorgonreleased in September 2023. We are deeply sorry if this album may have shocked and hurt us. This album is part of a cartoonish style of representation inherited from another era.begins the press release published in X.
Dupuis presents his “sincere apologies”
“More aware than ever of our moral duty and the importance of the comic as a publisher and, more broadly, of the book in the evolution of societies, today we assume full responsibility for this error of evaluation. This is why we would like to offer our most sincere apologies. “We have implemented the removal of the work in all points of sale”the editor continues. The young woman behind the TikTok video, Charlotte, celebrated this decision in a new video.
Belgian designer Dany, 81, is especially known for his erotic humor albums, such as the comic series. Are you interested?. He became known in 1968 with the adventures ofOlivier Rameauwhose drawings he signed. In August 2023, interviewed by Paris Party at work The Blue Gorgonindicated that he had ” look [s]sketches and [s]are the tables [s]us editor »who had them “accepted and validated”. He also stated that he had “redesigned” black women “because they told me their lips were too big”.
