The creator of the the universally-known Garfield comic strip, Jim Davis, released a statement today apologizing for a daily strip that looks like it called Veterans Day “National Stupid Day.”
The Garfield comic strip appears in a daily format, and the strip that happened to be scheduled for today ends with the quote “Does anyone here know why we celebrate ‘National Stupid Day’?” Oops. The joke was in reference to an ant a spider attempting to talk Garfield out of squishing it by saying if he gets squished, he’ll become famous. (Beyond the spider’s faulty logic, calling Garfield a “fat slob” probably wasn’t a good idea.) Classic middling Garfield humor; kinda shocking if read as an allegory for military service, much less on Veterans Day.
It turns out the strips are written well in advance and aren’t released according to a calendar that denotes any holidays or important days; Davis says he doesn’t know in advance when strips will be published.
In an open letter to fans posted on his website, Davis apologizes profusely and says it was all a big misunderstanding:
Dear Friends, Fans, and Veterans:
In what has to be the worst timing ever, the strip that runs in today’s paper seems to be making a statement about Veteran’s Day. It absolutely, positively has nothing to do with this important day of remembrance.
Regarding today’s Garfield comic strip, it was written almost a year ago and I had no idea when writing it that it would appear today — of all days. I do not use a calendar that lists holidays and other notable days, so when this strip was put in the queue, I had no idea it would run on Veteran’s Day. What are the odds? You can bet I’ll have a calendar that lists EVERYTHING by my side in the future.
My brother Dave served in Vietnam. My son James is a Marine who has had two tours of duty, both in Iraq and Afghanistan. You’d have to go a long way to find someone who was more proud and grateful for what our Veterans have done for all of us.
Please accept my sincere apologies for any offense today’s Garfield may have created. It was unintentional and regrettable.
Jim Davis
(ConnectMidMichigan via Metafilter)
