Garrick Tremain

He has been a professional painter since 1972 and a cartoonist since 1988. Tremain has produced a cartoon six or seven days a week for various New Zealand newspapers, including the Otago Daily Times, apart from a few months of semi-retirement from February 2007, when he produced weekly cartoons.{{cite web|url=http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/22229/cartoonist-entertains|title=Cartoonist entertains|last=Fox|first=Rebecca|date=13 September 2008|publisher=Otago Daily Times |accessdate=2008-09-13}}

He has been a finalist for the Qantas Media Awards Cartoonist in 2000 and 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=141454|title=Weekend Herald judged best in the land |date=24 June 2004|publisher=New Zealand Herald |accessdate=2008-09-13}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3569382|title=Qantas Media Award winners |date=29 May 2004|publisher=New Zealand Herald |accessdate=2008-09-13}}

On 3 December 2019 the Otago Daily Times published a cartoon by Tremain making light of the measles epidemic in Samoa. At that point the epidemic had killed 53 people, almost exclusively small children.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/117856947/samoa-measles-five-more-deaths-over-night-brings-tally-to-53|title=Samoa measles: Five more deaths over night brings tally to 53|website=Stuff |date=2 December 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-12-03}} Many people questioned how a cartoonist could think this an appropriate subject for a cartoon, and also why the editor allowed it to be published. Some of Tremain's colleagues at the ODT spoke out against the publication of the cartoon. The Race Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon called the cartoon a "slap in the face" for the victims' families.{{Cite news|last=McNeilly|first=Hamish|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117920163/samoa-cartoon-labelled-extremely-appalling-by-race-relations-commissioner|title=Newspaper cartoonist apologises for 'extremely appalling' Samoan cartoon|work=Stuff|language=en|date=4 December 2019 |access-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111231518/https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117920163/samoa-cartoon-labelled-extremely-appalling-by-race-relations-commissioner|archive-date=11 November 2020|url-status=live}}

The public response to the cartoon led to an apology by the ODT the same day, in which editor Barry Stewart said "The content and timing of the cartoon were insensitive, and we apologise without reservation for publishing it.”{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/03/new-zealand-newspaper-publishes-cartoon-mocking-samoa-measles-crisis|title=New Zealand newspaper publishes cartoon mocking Samoa measles crisis|last=Lyons|first=Kate|date=2019-12-03|work=The Guardian |access-date=2019-12-03|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

On 4 December Tremain apologised for his lack of judgment but also referred to the cartoon as a "light-hearted joke" and said he "saw nothing wrong with it".{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12290722|title=Cartoonist issues apology for measles cartoon labelled as racist|newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |date=2019-12-03|access-date=2019-12-03|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}} Protestors outside the ODT offices called for Tremain to be fired and Stewart to step down.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117920163/samoa-cartoon-labelled-extremely-appalling-by-race-relations-commissioner|title=Newspaper cartoonist apologises for 'extremely appalling' Samoan cartoon|website=Stuff |date=4 December 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-12-04}} Stewart told them that Tremain's position with the paper was under review, and he would not be published again until that review was complete.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404792/odt-to-cease-publishing-cartoonist-s-work-during-review|title=ODT to cease publishing cartoonist's work during review|date=2019-12-04|website=RNZ |language=en-nz|access-date=2019-12-04}}

Tremain had previously been accused of "playing with outdated and bigoted stereotypes".{{Cite web|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/04-12-2019/odt-cartoonist-infuriates-his-colleagues-with-samoa-measles-epidemic-joke/|title=ODT cartoonist infuriates his colleagues with Sāmoa measles epidemic 'joke'|date=2019-12-04|website=The Spinoff |access-date=2019-12-03}} On 23 December, the New Zealand Media Council ruled that Tremain's cartoon was "gratuitously hurtful and discriminatory". The Council had received 130 complaints in response to Tremain's "Samoan measles" cartoon.{{cite news |last1=Lourens |first1=Marine |title=Media council labels Otago Daily Times' measles cartoon 'hurtful and discriminatory' |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118405049/media-council-labels-measles-cartoon-hurtful-and-discriminatory |accessdate=24 December 2019 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=23 December 2019}}{{cite news |last1=McNeilly |first1=Hamish |title=Otago Daily Times' Samoan measles cartoon labelled 'hurtful, racist' by Media Council |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12296185 |accessdate=24 December 2019 |work=New Zealand Herald |date=23 December 2019}}

• Nursery Rhymes Mother Never Read You (2005) {{ISBN|0-908629-62-1}}
• 20 years of Garrick Tremain (2008) {{ISBN|978-1-86966-229-5}}

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• [http://garrick-tremain.squarespace.com/ Garrick Tremain] - webpage

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Category:1941 births

Category:Living people

Category:New Zealand editorial cartoonists

Category:People from Queenstown, New Zealand

Category:New Zealand people of Cornish descent

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