On the Death of John Madden, EA Madden, and Common Sense – Opinion

John Madden’s passing reminded of me of why we are here.

This was in the summer 2020 and I was still drawing cartoons about editorial sports for Los Angeles Times.

Madden21 was released by EA Sports in the midst of riots and burning American cities. This popular, highly profitable videogame was launched on August 28th.^ThJust two weeks prior to the NFL’s return, a complete schedule was being resumed.

Madden21 was riddled with programming errors, like players who couldn’t be tackled, or players scoring touchdowns by downing a ball in their own end zone. The game also contained new “social justice” messaging and that messaging was purposeful.

Colin Kaepernick returned to Madden21. Kaepernick, despite being out of the league for many years, was still a good player. Players could “take a knee” after scoring touchdowns. A player could make a fist. Madden Football had become the stage of the absurd.

The NFL was set to start its season after Madden21 had been released. You might assume that as an “editorial” sports cartoonist I would and could “editorialize” on the Madden21 woke programming change. You’d be right about “would,” you’d be wrong about the “could.”

My editors requested that I draw a mocking cartoon of Madden21. The cartoon was innocuous and I believed it would go to print.  After all, I was an editorial cartoonist, and editorializing was my “job.”  I was wrong.

After passing through the assistant editors, it was handed to the final editor. That final word, was “No.” I was told that my cartoon was sending the wrong message. NFL players were protesting to “end racism” and it wouldn’t print. This was a false message.

I have little doubt that it wasn’t about being “insensitive” to grown men. The inevitable backlash editors would receive from disaffected interns was what it was all about. Interns who 6 months prior were yelling at professors for misgendering a woman (who the day before, was a guy) would crash through the publisher’s door demanding resignations.

An editor wrote me in 2019 about a complaint from a reader.  The editor was concerned about the cartoon I made. Lynn Swann was his subject.  Lynn Swann was black. Swann, an ex-USC and NFL football star was at that time the USC Athletic director. Because his name was “Swann” I cartooned him as, yes, a black swan. One reader thought my cartoon was racist. Cartooning a human as a metaphorical animal isn’t all that unusual. But, millions are easily offended. Someone was even super offended when he saw a black Swan. My editor wanted to know why Swann was drawn as a black Swan.

I explained that Swann’s name was, coincidently, Swann. Further, I explained to Swann that there are black swans in the natural world.  As the editorial cartoonist, I thought it was quite clear that Swann, a Black man, would be depicted as a black Swann.  I asked rhetorically – if I had depicted him as a white swan wouldn’t that be… racist? I was supported by him, and that was it. It was well before George Floyd, the NFL and Colin Kaepernick.

In 2018, Andrew Sullivan wrote an article titled “We All Live on Campus Now”. This article critiques campus mobsters that are constantly offended and intolerant. They’ve graduated and moved into the workforce. Ex-student harpies now work as harpies and demand scalps in exchange for any imagined slight. This was 2018, It’s only gotten worse.

Bari Weiss, a former editor of the New York Times, is Jewish, gay, and left-of-center. Bari Weiss describes herself as a progressive. She left the New York Times because leftists took over the “paper of record.” She left because the editors no longer ran the Times, the newsroom bullies did. They were terrified of young 25-year olds using a TikTok account and keyboard. The editors decided to let the kids manage the show instead of firing them in large numbers. Weiss explained that a story she wrote about anti-Semitism wasn’t the “right” narrative. Her article discussed leftist anti-Semitism, and that wasn’t allowed at the Times. Wrong narrative. This story is false.

My Madden21 cartoon rejection was an indicator. At the dawn of 2021 I was certain my days were numbered. I saw subjects/stories that I couldn’t touch because a group or clique or just one person might be offended. Gone were the days when one could tell a screaming harpy to “grow up.”

In May 2021 I was out of ideas for what the LA Times could print. Editorial cartoons are meant to be provocative, to elicit a reaction — and often it’s a negative reaction. I made several criticisms of Colin Kaepernick in 2019, which, looking back, wouldn’t have been published in The Times until 2021.

Since joining RedState, I’ve drawn mostly political and cultural cartoons. I’ve gained friends. Some friends have died. One friend I’ve known for decades stopped speaking to me and stopped following me on Twitter. A woman I dated in high school dropped a note to me: “God what happened to you?”

These nuts now run the asylum.