Non Sequitur artist’s profane ‘Easter egg’ a breach of trust

Wiley Miller slipped an f-bomb into his "Non Sequitur" comic strip last Sunday, and as a result, we cancelled the comic on Monday.

Many of you know that already, because I wrote about it for Tuesday's edition to explain why the comic would not appear in that day's paper or after that day — except for today, because our Sunday comics are printed a week in advance. (We have reviewed it closely, and it does not include any hidden messages.)

The Dispatch and newspapers across the country banished Miller (no relation to this Miller) after last week's stunt. The Dallas Morning News, Sacramento Bee, Atlanta JournalConstitution, Cincinnati Enquirer, Baltimore Sun, Charlotte Observer, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, The Repository in Canton and many others cancelled the strip.

As you can imagine, I heard from readers about this decision. Some were pleased. Others were upset. Some misunderstood the reason for cancelling it or ascribed motives that simply weren't involved.

For those who missed it, Miller included in last Sunday's Non Sequitur a profane message to President Donald Trump.

And later on Sunday, Miller posted a tweet to say that some sharp-eyed readers had found the little "Easter egg" he had hidden in the comic and encouraged those reading his tweet to find it.

That says to me that it

was purposeful, and that is what prompted us to let him go.

Andrews Mcmeel, which syndicates Non Sequitur and to whom we pay a lot of money to catch such things, issued a statement Monday saying, “We are sorry we missed the language in our editing process. If we had discovered it, we would not have distributed the cartoon without it being removed. We apologize to Non Sequitur’s clients and readers for our oversight.”

Wiley Miller’s statement, issued through Andrews Mcmeel, did not include an apology. He said that he had drawn the comic about eight weeks ago and had forgotten the “scribbling that has now caught fire” until sharp-eyed readers pointed it out on Sunday.

"I now remember that I was particularly aggravated that day about something the president had done or said, and so I lashed out in a rather sophomoric manner as instant therapy," Miller wrote. "It was NOT intended for public consumption, and I meant to white it out before submitting it, but forgot to."

He said he wouldn't do it again, but his statement on Monday, issued after papers began dropping his comic, did not square with his almost gleeful tweet on Sunday.

Our decision to end Non Sequitur had nothing to do with politics or whom Miller attacked with his profane "Easter egg." The purposeful and unprofessional act was a violation of trust. We must be able to trust that those who work for us, whether in our newsroom or through the syndicates that supply content to us, will uphold high standards.

Some readers suggested that we made this decision to placate Trump supporters who complained to us about Miller's attack on Trump.

That wasn't a factor. We received one complaint about the comic before we cancelled it. And we wouldn't have needed a single complaint. The minute we saw what he had done, we knew that we could not condone it, nor could we trust him any longer.

Others wondered why they should be protected from such language when so many people in society — including the president — use the same foul language. Again, we will not condone the language and we will not take the risk of being deceived again.

Some wondered why we would fire Miller and keep Nate Beeler, whose cartoons often criticize President Trump. The difference is that we pay Beeler and other editorial cartoonists for their opinions; they appear on the opinion pages, and they don't include f-bombs.

I appreciate that many of you liked Wiley Miller's comics. I did, too. In fact, his work has been among my personal favorites for years.

This decision was not about The Dispatch trying to find a reason — any reason — to get rid of a comic, as some suggested.

We simply can't bend rules and standards for those we like just because we like them. As I wrote in Tuesday's paper, I don't believe he made a mistake. It's clear that he purposely used our newspaper pages to send a profane message to the president in a space where all ages — including children — go for entertainment. Miller even invited those children in this case to get out their Crayons and color his comic. That's simply unacceptable.