EARLIER TODAY, AT least 12 people were killed in a shooting at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The magazine has repeatedly taken aim at radical Islam, and previously published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Police in France have said that the gunmen shouted “We have avenged the Prophet” during the attack.
Thousands on social media have been stating their solidarity with the principles of freedom of expression, using the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people have been sharing this cartoon as the New Yorker’s response to the attacks.
The cartoon – a completely blank box – is captioned: “Please enjoy this culturally, ethnically, religiously and politically correct cartoon responsibly. Thank you.”
At least 10,000 people have used the phrase ‘New Yorker’ on Twitter today, according to analytics from Topsy – which shows how mentions of the magazine have rocketed in the last few hours.
The cartoon is not, in fact, the New Yorker’s direct response to the shootings. It is the work of Michael Shaw, who had it published in the magazine in February 2006.
However, the New Yorker’s cartoon editor Robert Mankoff republished it in September 2012 as part of a piece on how difficult it is to draw a cartoon without offending anybody.
It was drawn in the wake of the initial furore after Charlie Hebdo published several cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006 – an action which provoked a political storm and legal action.
