20

JEWS EVERYWHERE

“Many voices came forward to express delight with the cover as well; my favorite was
from a young reader who wrote that she didn’t understand the controversy. She thought
that it was sweet of the magazine, on the week of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, to show
him kissing a slave.”

THE ERA OF TINA BROWN’S new New Yorker, which began with her con-
troversial appointment as editor in July of 1992, saw its first big scandal with Art
Spiegelman’s “Hasidic Kiss” cover for Valentine’s Day 1993. The media coverage
that ensued seemed more appropriate to a natural disaster than a provocative im-
age. The magazine had to hire extra office help to contend with the avalanche of
“Cancel my subscription!” letters, and security was brought in to deal with more
direct threats. Hoping for more such images from the artists I had published in
RAW, Tina hired me in the wake of the upheaval.

–ART SPIEGELMAN

WHEN ASKED IF MAYBE Jews
(who do not often show up in his sketch-
es) are just less prone to being mocked,
Barry Blitt, who sketched a Hasid in the
back of a Muslim cabbie’s taxi (above),
answers without hesitation: “Fuck, no!
The right scandal and you’ll be seeing
Jews everywhere.” Art Spiegelman’s Hasid
has a beard and a belly in common with
Santa (opposite).

GREG FOLEY is the creative director
of Visionaire, an influential fashion maga-
zine, which may be why he felt compelled
to respond to the scandal that ensued in
2011, when designer John Galliano was
videoed publicly spouting anti-Semitic
comments (right). The model is wearing a
Galliano for Dior gown.