Combative conservative comic strip ‘Mallard Fillmore’ has been dropped by the entire Gannett media group. The decision was reportedly made over its jab at Biden and trans athletes’ access to women’s sports. Gannett is the largest newspaper publisher in America by daily circulation and owns USA Today, as well as some of the largest regional papers, including the Indianapolis Star and the Detroit Free Press. The group recently dropped the comic strip Mallard Fillmore, it was confirmed to the Washington Times.
“We made a decision last month to discontinue the Mallard Fillmore comic strip in our newspapers because a review of the recent work showed it did not meet our standards,” Amalie Nash, senior vice president of local news at USA Today Network, said.
Some newspapers owned by Gannett, such as the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and The Record, previously announced that they will no longer publish the comic strip on their pages, but the new report confirms it was the publisher’s decision to axe it.
Gannett is hardly unique in axing political satire to protect the feelings of its readers. The New York Times, for example, decided in 2019 against publishing political cartoons at all, after a comic strip criticizing the Israeli influence on then-President Donald Trump was deemed anti-Semitic by critics.