PRAGUE — A Prague city council member has offered 1 million Czech Republic Koruny (about U.S. $65,515) as a reward for the identity of an anonymous cartoonist who posted on the internet creative renderings of the councilor and his girlfriend in sexual poses.Milan Richter, a Prague city councilor and member of the Civic Democrat party, said the comic renderings weren’t funny and may have exposed his girlfriend, former Miss World Taťána Kuchařová, to threats.
“Were it an ordinary caricature I’d laugh at it, but this is way beyond the limits of political caricature,” Richter told the Czech daily newspaper Hospodářské Noviny (Economic News). “Someone must have invested in this, maybe millions. My girlfriend was also receiving threats via SMS messages, and I think it might be interconnected.”
Unflattering comical representations of public figures are nothing new in the Czech Republic. Most infamously, the comic strip Zelený Raoul depicted then-cabinet minister Karel Březina engaging in sexual intercourse. Březina sued and won, and the publisher, Reflex magazine, was forced to issue a public apology.
The artist remained unrepentant, though.
“Mr. Březina boasted his sexual life in tabloid magazines at that time and so my comics strip only reflected upon that,” artist Štěpán Mareš said.
Mareš generated an angry response from a politician again last year when he included the phone number of Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek in one of his strips. According to Reflex chief editor Petr Bílek, the magazine stood behind the cartoon, citing free-speech issues.
Not all Zelený Raoul comics skewer politicians. Another infamous panel depicted singer Karel Gott raping Bee Mája, a character from a children’s television cartoon. The musician did not complain.
Zelený Raoul is not the only comic to pick on Czech celebrities. Civic Democrat Senate candidate Zdeněk Klausner found himself depicted comically naked on a flyer intended to discredit him before elections. Klausner went so far as to endure a clinical examination to prove his head did not belong to the body on which it was depicted.
Richter has not said whether he believes the artist behind Zelený Raoul is responsible for his comic embarrassment, and so far no one has come forward to claim the reward.
