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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Mike Luckovich

Aired February 23, 2003 - 09:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: We're here with editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich. He's a Pulitzer Prize winner and draws for the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution." He's back on this show to show us his latest work. We gave you a few minutes to do a difficult project.
MIKE LUCKOVICH, EDITORIAL CARTOONIST, ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: It was a lousy topic for an editorial cartoon. It's a tragic event, and normally with an event like that, I usually will avoid something that's not politically oriented, and especially something that tragic.

So this is what I did. I actually came up with a variety of cartoons. Most seemed a little flip. It's really hard to do that topic.

COLLINS: How do you do it? We've talked before about, obviously, we're talking the stop story of the week as the voters decided was the nightclub inferno in Rhode Island. You've done serious topics before, September 11 with the Statue of Liberty crying, the shuttle, and it's got to be challenging.

LUCKOVICH: It is hard. I hate doing those topics. They're so hard. I like focusing on politics and things. Especially when just a tragic event happens, there's just not much humor in there. This is the one I did on that today. I've got a crowd of people at the exit, and the caption is, the new best place to view a nightclub concert.

COLLINS: Right at the door.

LUCKOVICH: Right at the door, exactly. What I did, I did two cartoons when I was sitting here. That was such a downer topic so I did another cartoon. This is on -- I combined two issues. The snow and Michael Jackson's nose. And this is what I did. I've got a couple of kids looking outside and one kid saying "Every day, the snow gets less and less. Soon it'll be gone completely." The other kid says, "Kind of like Michael Jackson's nose." Watch it long enough, it's not going to be there anymore.

KARL: Let's take a look at some of the other cartoons you did over the course of the week. You've had a lot of political news to work with.

LUCKOVICH: Right. Now this one, this is a local but national topic. The state of Georgia is now going to vote -- have a referendum on the confederate flag, whether it's going to be our state flag or not. Now our previous governor, Roy Barnes, made a decision, got us a new flag and kind of rid us of this issue. Our new governor came in promising a referendum. It was sort of a race card he was playing there.

KARL: Mike, this is a little harsh, though.

LUCKOVICH: It was harsh, but here's the thing that really ticked me off. Our new governor's Sonny Perdue, and he -- there was a story about him, and he was talking about how having a referendum on this confederate flag was a healing thing. He described himself as a healer.

That's a bunch of crap to me, so I did this cartoon. He's ramming a confederate flag ...

KARL: Now, the governor did respond, wrote a letter to the editor. And let's look at what he said. He said, "The cartoon crossed the line between pointed political satire and an illustration of hate and distrust." And that was a pretty hateful illustration.

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: He wants a referendum on the flag. He doesn't want to impale anybody.

LUCKOVICH: It's going to tear the state apart. It's bringing up all this ugly racial stuff. So it's really divisive. For him to call himself a healer is the most hypocritical thing I can think of. From a cartoonist standpoint, it's great having a guy like him around, because he's going to be very enjoyable to ridicule.

COLLINS: He invites you to make fun of him.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly.

COLLINS: Quickly, I want to go to one that was a little bit lighter, at least we thought so, about the duct tape.

LUCKOVICH: Oh yes. Now that thing, that whole thing, protecting yourself with duct tape is so goofy. So I did this cartoon. I've got a couple, you see that they're in some bombed-out surroundings and the guy is telling his wife, "Awesome. The duct tape around the window held."

KARL: Well, we have been stocking up on duct tape in Washington, I'll tell you.

LUCKOVICH: Is that right? Well, I guess you've got to do what you've got to do.

KARL: All right, all right. Keep looking. We'll keep watching.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you, Jonathan, Heidi.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 23, 2003 - 09:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN ANCHOR: We're here with editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich. He's a Pulitzer Prize winner and draws for the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution." He's back on this show to show us his latest work. We gave you a few minutes to do a difficult project.
MIKE LUCKOVICH, EDITORIAL CARTOONIST, ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: It was a lousy topic for an editorial cartoon. It's a tragic event, and normally with an event like that, I usually will avoid something that's not politically oriented, and especially something that tragic.

So this is what I did. I actually came up with a variety of cartoons. Most seemed a little flip. It's really hard to do that topic.

COLLINS: How do you do it? We've talked before about, obviously, we're talking the stop story of the week as the voters decided was the nightclub inferno in Rhode Island. You've done serious topics before, September 11 with the Statue of Liberty crying, the shuttle, and it's got to be challenging.

LUCKOVICH: It is hard. I hate doing those topics. They're so hard. I like focusing on politics and things. Especially when just a tragic event happens, there's just not much humor in there. This is the one I did on that today. I've got a crowd of people at the exit, and the caption is, the new best place to view a nightclub concert.

COLLINS: Right at the door.

LUCKOVICH: Right at the door, exactly. What I did, I did two cartoons when I was sitting here. That was such a downer topic so I did another cartoon. This is on -- I combined two issues. The snow and Michael Jackson's nose. And this is what I did. I've got a couple of kids looking outside and one kid saying "Every day, the snow gets less and less. Soon it'll be gone completely." The other kid says, "Kind of like Michael Jackson's nose." Watch it long enough, it's not going to be there anymore.

KARL: Let's take a look at some of the other cartoons you did over the course of the week. You've had a lot of political news to work with.

LUCKOVICH: Right. Now this one, this is a local but national topic. The state of Georgia is now going to vote -- have a referendum on the confederate flag, whether it's going to be our state flag or not. Now our previous governor, Roy Barnes, made a decision, got us a new flag and kind of rid us of this issue. Our new governor came in promising a referendum. It was sort of a race card he was playing there.

KARL: Mike, this is a little harsh, though.

LUCKOVICH: It was harsh, but here's the thing that really ticked me off. Our new governor's Sonny Perdue, and he -- there was a story about him, and he was talking about how having a referendum on this confederate flag was a healing thing. He described himself as a healer.

That's a bunch of crap to me, so I did this cartoon. He's ramming a confederate flag ...

KARL: Now, the governor did respond, wrote a letter to the editor. And let's look at what he said. He said, "The cartoon crossed the line between pointed political satire and an illustration of hate and distrust." And that was a pretty hateful illustration.

(CROSSTALK)

KARL: He wants a referendum on the flag. He doesn't want to impale anybody.

LUCKOVICH: It's going to tear the state apart. It's bringing up all this ugly racial stuff. So it's really divisive. For him to call himself a healer is the most hypocritical thing I can think of. From a cartoonist standpoint, it's great having a guy like him around, because he's going to be very enjoyable to ridicule.

COLLINS: He invites you to make fun of him.

LUCKOVICH: Exactly.

COLLINS: Quickly, I want to go to one that was a little bit lighter, at least we thought so, about the duct tape.

LUCKOVICH: Oh yes. Now that thing, that whole thing, protecting yourself with duct tape is so goofy. So I did this cartoon. I've got a couple, you see that they're in some bombed-out surroundings and the guy is telling his wife, "Awesome. The duct tape around the window held."

KARL: Well, we have been stocking up on duct tape in Washington, I'll tell you.

LUCKOVICH: Is that right? Well, I guess you've got to do what you've got to do.

KARL: All right, all right. Keep looking. We'll keep watching.

LUCKOVICH: Thank you, Jonathan, Heidi.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com