Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Renald ‘Luz’ Luzier explained his crying Muhammad cover tearfully
The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo has a typical press run of about 60,000 copies. It will print 3 million copies of its next issue.
Three million.
Wednesday’s publication will be the first since the Jan. 7 attack that killed 10 of its journalists and two police officers, and Tuesday staffers publicly discussed what it was like to put the issue together.
The cover is powerful. The French words for “All is forgiven” hover over the image of Muhammad, who is shedding a tear and holding one of the now globally ubiquitous placards saying, “Je suis Charlie.”
Speaking at a news conference in Paris, Charlie Hebdo’s Zineb El Rhazoui said the cover means that the journalists forgive the extremists who killed their colleagues and the police, USA Today reported.
Renald Luzier, the cartoonist who drew the image and goes by “Luz,” repeatedly cried at the news conference and said he wept immediately after drawing the picture, the Associated Press reported. Per the AP, Luzier said the cover represents “just a little guy who’s crying,” then added, unapologetically: “Yes, it is Muhammad.”
USA Today translated his comments like this: “It’s not the front page the world wanted us to do. But it’s the front page we wanted. It’s not the front page a terrorist would have wanted us to do — there are no terrorists on there.” And, using a different spelling for the prophet Muhammad, USA Today added that Luzier also said: “There’s just a guy who’s crying. It’s Mohammed. I am sorry, we drew him again. But this Mohammed is, above everything else, a man in tears.”
The Telegraph quoted Luzier saying this: “The terrorists were once kids, they drew like us, like all kids, then one day they perhaps lost their sense of humour.”
Here is a fuller translation of Luzier’s comments from The Telegraph:
I invoked all the talents of the magazine, all those who were not there any more, all those were still there, I said to myself, we must do a drawing that above all makes us laugh, and not one on the emotional charge we are victims of.
I had the idea of drawing this character of Mohammed, as it’s my character, because he existed, at least in people’s hearts, and in any case he exists when I draw him.
He is a character that got our offices burned, and a character who at first got us treated as the great white knights of the freedom of the press because the offices had burned down. Then a year later when we redrew the character we were treated as dangerous provocative and irresponsible. So this character led us to be called either white knights or provocateurs, whereas we are above all cartoonists who draw little people like children do.
The terrorists were once kids, they drew like us, like all kids, then one day they perhaps lost their sense of humour, perhaps their child soul able to see the world from a bit of a distance, because that’s Charlie – being able to draw the world from a small distance.
The AP described what the next Charlie Hebdo will contain:The issue maintained the irreverent, often offensive attitude Charlie Hebdo is well-known for in France. The first two pages included drawings by the slain cartoonists. One showed a much-loved late French nun talking about oral sex. Another showed a Muslim, Christian and Jewish leader dividing up the world.
The lead editorial laid out a vigorous defense of secularism, and of their right to lampoon religions and religious leaders and hold them accountable — and ended with a critique of the pope.
“For the past week, Charlie, an atheist newspaper, has achieved more miracles than all the saints and prophets combined. The one we are most proud of is that you have in your hands the newspaper that we always made,” it read.
It also heartily thanked the millions around the world who have supported it.
The edition will be translated into English, Arabic and Turkish. There is a Reddit page asking where in San Diego it could be obtained in case anyone knows.
