The New York Times | Libération
Renald Luzier, a cartoonist with French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, is leaving the publication in September in response to stress stemming from the murder of his colleagues earlier this year, Dan Bilefsky reports.
Luzier is the artist responsible for the controversial cover art from the first issue of Charlie Hebdo printed after terrorists gunned down several of the newspaper’s staffers. Several U.S. news organizations — including The New York Times — decided not to publish Luzier’s illustration, which violates Islamic strictures against depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Luzier, also known as Luz, gave an interview to the newspaper Libération in which he attributed his departure to the difficulties of carrying on without his fellow journalists, Bilefsky writes.
“Each issue is torture, because the others are gone,” Mr. Luzier said. “Spending sleepless nights summoning the dead, wondering what Charb, Cabu, Honoré, Tignous would have done is exhausting.”
Libération promoted the interview prominently on its cover. Via Google Translate, it reads: “I will not be Charlie Hebdo, but I will always be Charlie.”
Here’s the cover, via Kiosko.
