The above t-shirt is courtesy of this fool:

Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he’s peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with “Obama in ’08” scrolled underneath, are “cute.” But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations past.

[…]

Norman said those offended are “hunting for a reason to be mad” and insisted he is “not a racist.”

Why picture Obama as Curious George? “Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears, he looks just like Curious George,” Norman said.

He’s not a racist, he just thinks black people look like monkeys. To quote Ta-Nehisi Coates, who exactly does a guy have to lynch around here to get called a racist?

UPDATE: So obviously, Curious George is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Company. The T-shirt is most likely protected as parody, but if you’re as irritated as I am, feel free to contact the good folks there and let them know what people are doing with their property.

Houghton Mifflin Company
Permissions Department
215 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10003

You may also contact our general interest and children’s Permissions Department by fax at 212-420-5899
or via e-mail at trade_permissions@hmco.com.

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