McGruder's Beef

Right after 9/11, Aaron McGruder's Boondocks comic strip was banned from Sunday newspapers nationwide after a so-called 'controversial' sketch where his characters compare the cheap, cheesy patriotic jingoism to the "Where's the Beef?" slogan of the 80s. This was right around the same time that Bill Maher and others were fired from their jobs just because they weren't playing along Disney's bottom line.

I cut that strip out, had it laminated, and pinned it to my bedroom wall. Reminder that it wasn't safe to come out yet.

Now McGruder is in trouble again with shareholder media. I ran into him a couple of years ago at some function at an Asian restaurant, right around the time his animated series got picked up by Time-Warner's Cartoon Network. The show was a quick success and T-W's company website even featured it on their front page. It was late that night, but I noticed he was hanging out with some interesting folks -- a few materialistic, misogynistic meatheads that stuff the hip-pop community these days. Stuff which he used to deride in his comic. C'mon Aaron, keep it real.