President Trump’s campaign issued a complaint causing the removal of Nick Anderson’s political cartoon from @redbubble. Today, we’re leading a coalition calling on Redbubble to affirm its commitment to the First Amendment and reinstate Mr. Anderson’s work. https://t.co/g3DXeNggbr pic.twitter.com/01YSnm9VWS
— CBLDF (@CBLDF) May 26, 2020
This week CBLDF went viral leading the charge to restore a political cartoon that the President’s re-election campaign had removed from the website Redbubble with a meritless trademark complaint. Joined by other free speech groups, CBLDF successfully convinced the site to reinstate Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Nick Anderson’s piece, The Cult of Trump, and the company also apologized via Twitter for their error.
While CBLDF and the First Amendment were victorious, the case ended up getting global attention with coverage from leading news sources such as The Guardian and Business Insider. Take a look at the news coverage to learn more about this important win for free expression, and read through CBLDF’s letter to Redbubble below to learn more about the legal precedents that made this decision possible.
- Trump campaign attempts to remove satirical cartoon from online retailer – The Guardian
- The Trump campaign tried to get a satirical cartoon of the president removed from the shopping site Redbubble – Business Insider
- CBLDF Helps Political Cartoon Return to Redbubble After Removal Controversy – Comic Book Resources
- Trump Cartoon Restored After CBLDF Campaign – Newsarama
- The CBLDF Beats Donald Trump Campaign Over MAGA Cartoon – Bleeding Cool
- CBLDF Protests TRUMP Campaign-Ordered Takedown of Satirical Political Cartoon – Newsarama
CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein said in response to the victory,
“We’re sensitive to the issues companies like Redbubble face in balancing competing rights owner issues, and were alarmed to see the President’s re-election campaign exploiting those issues to suppress protected speech. Our letter articulates the case law in clear terms to help prevent future censorship of this nature. We’re pleased that Redbubble has done the right thing in this case. We hope that they will continue to assert the First Amendment rights they and their sellers are guaranteed by rejecting any similar censorship attempts.”
Read CBLDF’s letter to Redbubble below:
If you want to support important First Amendment work like this, become a CBLDF member. For a limited time, CBLDF has organized special member experiences with top comics pros to incentivize joining now. Learn more at https://cbldf.org/2020/05/join-cbldf-for-exclusive-qa-and-live-art-experiences/
