An event at the Buffalo History Museum featuring Buffalo News cartoonist Adam Zyglis scheduled for tonight has been postponed.
The Buffalo Newspaper Guild and the museum said they had “serious” concerns for public safety, even involving Buffalo police.
The guild said the Pulitzer Prize-winning Zyglis and his family have been receiving death threats following a recent cartoon published that depicts a man with a Make America Great Again hat being swept away in Texas flood waters, with a sign saying “HELP.”
The cartoon has drawn both local and national criticism. The Erie County Legislature Republican Caucus was critical of both the cartoon and the fact that the museum receives taxpayer funds. The now postponed happy hour event was to close out a longstanding exhibit on Zyglis' work for the Buffalo News and in national syndication.
"His [Zyglis] cartoon was disgraceful, and it is shameful it was published," the joint statement said. "It shines a spotlight on just how inappropriate it was for a publicly funded museum to put his works on display for so many years while he was an active journalist, not a historical figure."
While the event was planned before the Texas flood cartoon was published, Erie County Republicans called the cartoon deeply offensive.
“People are hurting and struggling to make sense of it all. Adam Zyglis should’ve known better than to post such a cartoon that almost seems to celebrate this catastrophe,” the statement also said.
The guild called plans for confrontations against Zyglis an effort to “distort" the mission of a free press.
"We wholly condemn the individuals who have chosen to twist a positive, public event into an attempt to terrorize and silence Zyglis," the guild statement said. "Zyglis is an opinion cartoonist who puts his name to every cartoon he draws. While his work is separate and independent from the work of newsroom reporters and editors at The Buffalo News, the Buffalo Newspaper Guild will not stand for physical threats of harm against him and his family."
Devastating floods began in the early morning hours of July 4 along the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas. So far, authorities have confirmed at least 121 people are dead. Crews are still searching for around 170 people across six counties, as of Thursday evening.
