Jeremy Nell
Jeremy Talfer Nell (born 1979) is a South African cartoonist who writes under the pen name Jerm. In 2020, his public page was shut down by Facebook after repeatedly violating the social network's policies against hate speech.[1] He was previously made to retract a homophobic statement made on another social network, Twitter.[2]
Jeremy Nell | |
---|---|
Born | Jeremy Talfer Nell 1979 (age 41–42) Cape Town, South Africa |
Nationality | South African |
Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Pseudonym(s) | Jerm |
Notable works | Jerm Warfare |
jermdraws |
Early life and education
Jeremy Talfer Nell was born in 1979[3] in Cape Town, South Africa. Nell attended Fairmont High School.[4] After graduating, Nell went to study art and sculpture at the University of Cape Town but failed the course and dropped out.[5][6]
Career
Nell became a cartoonist in November 2005, after being retrenched.[7][5] Nell had no completed formal art training.[6]
Nell's first commercially published work and nationally syndicated comic strip Urban Trash (first published November 2005), ended 27 June 2008.[8][9][10]
In 2010, Nell became the first political cartoonist for the newly launched The New Age, a pro-government daily newspaper. He was dismissed in 2012.[11][12]
In 2012, Nell became the first political cartoonist for Eyewitness News.[13][14] That year he cited Zapiro and Quentin Blake as some of his favourite cartoonists.[4]
In 2013, Nell became the first political cartoonist for eNCA.com.[15][16]
In February 2014, Nell voiced his support for David Bullard when Bullard donated to a rape charity (who returned his donation) after being criticised for accusing rape survivor and activist Michelle Solomon of having faked her rape.[17]
In December 2014, Nell was forced to apologise for making a homophobic remark online. After receiving heavy criticism for a tweet regarding the trial of Shrien Dewani, during which the prosecution heard that Dewani was bisexual, Nell apologised and retracted his statement.[18][19][20]
In January 2020, after Democratic Alliance chairperson Helen Zille shared a controversial racial cartoon created by Nell, Facebook closed Nell's public page, which had nearly 60,000 followers. Nell said he had previously violated the site's rules against hate speech.[21] According to Mail & Guardian critic Christopher McMichael, Nell's political cartoons portray black politicians as "baying for white genocide" and reveal crypto-fascist ideas about racial intelligence.[22]
Publishing and awards
Penguin Books have published two cartoon collections by Nell, Jerm Warfare (2013) and Comedy Club (2014).[23][24][25] Additionally some of his work features in (and on the front cover of) the 2009 edition of the South African political cartooning annual Don't Joke: A Year in Cartoons, as well as in the 2010 edition, Just For Kicks.[26][27]
Nell won the national 2011 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Cartoon of the Year award for his cartoon Africa 2.0.[28][29]
The Mail & Guardian named Nell as one of their "Top 200 Young South Africans" in 2012.[30]
Nell was a finalist at the 2014 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards.[31]
References
- . Times Live https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2020-01-05-facebook-shuts-down-cartoonists-page-after-zille-storm-on-twitter/. Missing or empty
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(help) - . News24 https://www.news24.com/News24/Cartoonist-in-hot-water-over-homophobic-Dewani-tweet-20141209. Missing or empty
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(help) - Verster, Francois (2010). A critique of the Rape of Justicia, with emphasis on seven cartoons by Zapiro (2008–2010) (PDF) (MPhil). University of Stellenbosch. p. 53. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
Jeremy Talfer Nell (born 1979), and Zapiro are carrying on the work of the liberal cartoonist...
- "The end of freedom of speech? The cartoonist's plight..." News24. 14 December 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- "Game Changer: Jeremy 'Jerm' Nell". Men's Health. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "EWN contracts a new Jerm". Eyewitness News. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
Jerm, whose real name is Jeremy Nell, says he started drawing cartoons after he "flunked art and sculpture" at university.
- "10 Questions for Cartoonist Jeremy Nell aka Jerm – South Africa Portfolio Travel Blog". portfoliocollection.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Jeremy Nell ends strip, begins 'The Biggish Five' The Daily Cartoonist". dailycartoonist.com. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Marketing and Media in South Africa". bizcommunity.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- Administrator. "Centre for Comic, Illustrative and Book Arts". Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "South African Political Cartoonist Fired for Being Political". Public Radio International. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Jeremy Nell fired from New Age because of 'political judgements or statements' The Daily Cartoonist". dailycartoonist.com. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "JERM joins EWN". africartoons.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Jerm – Inaugural Cartoon". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "South African cartoonist "Jerm" joins eNCA network The Daily Cartoonist". dailycartoonist.com. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Jerm Switches Channels". africartoons.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- Shortridge, Laura (July 2014). "Twitter Wars" (PDF). Rhodes Journalism Review. Rhodes University. p. 15. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
It is therefore interesting to take a look at the next controversy, related directly to this one, involving Bullard, as here he found far more outspoken supporters, including previously mentioned Ivo Vegter and political cartoonist Jerm.
- Ndlovu, Andile (9 December 2014). "Toon man's 'kak' tweet flames out". The Times. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
AWARD-WINNING cartoonist Jeremy Nell was yesterday forced into an apology after his reaction to the Shrien Dewani verdict fell flat on Twitter.
- Roberts, Scott (9 December 2014). "Cartoonist apologies for anti-gay tweet about Shrien Dewani". PinkNews. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
A South African cartoonist has apologised for making anti-gay comments on Twitter in response to the Shrien Dewani verdict.
- "Cartoonist in hot water over 'homophobic' Dewani tweet". News24. 9 December 2014. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
Cape Town – A cartoonist landed in hot water on Monday evening after his offensive tweet about Shrien Dewani.
- "Facebook shuts down cartoonist's page after Zille storm on Twitter". TimesLIVE. 5 January 2020.
- McMichael, Christopher (9 January 2020). "A cultural war waged by a cartoonist". The Mail & Guardian.
Jerm is hardly a paragon of anti-authoritarian values. Rather, he is a raging bundle of Donald Trump-style reactionary derangement yet to meet a dubious conspiracy theory or white supremacist dog whistle he doesn’t like.
- "Comedy Club". penguinbooks.co.za. Archived from the original on 19 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Nik Rabinowitz Joined Jerm for the Launch of Comedy Club at The Book Lounge". Penguin SA @ Books LIVE. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Jerm Warfare". penguinbooks.co.za. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Book Launch: Don't Joke: A Year in Cartoons edited by Mason and Curtis". Jacana @ Books LIVE. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Double Launch of Cartoon Collections Just for Kicks! and What's So Funny? at the Book Lounge". Jacana @ Books LIVE. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "amaBhungane wins Vodacom's best feature award". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "TNA's Jeremy Nell wins Vodacom cartoon award". The New Age. South Africa. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- Deepdesign. "Jeremy "Jerm" Nel". Mail & Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
- "Finalists of 2014 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards". Retrieved 15 March 2015 – via Scribd.