Falwell’s Local Paper Pulls Doonesbury’s S. Africa Strips

The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s hometown newspaper has refused to publish the Doonesbury comic strips lampooning his stand on South Africa.

Falwell said in an interview that he has seen the series anyway and found it in bad taste. But the evangelist, referring to cartoonist Garry Trudeau, added: “I personally don’t care what he says about me, as long as he spells my name right.”

Falwell, pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg and founder of the politically conservative Moral Majority organization, drew criticism several weeks ago when he condemned the use of economic sanctions against the white minority government of South Africa. Like President Reagan, he argued that sanctions would hurt South African blacks economically without doing much to change the nation’s policies.

Doonesbury episodes this week depicted Reagan making, at Falwell’s initiative, a benefit recording for South Africa, similar to the USA for Africa recording and Live Aid concert used to raise money for African famine relief.

Another episode had the cartoon Falwell saying that the song’s message includes “a respect for the freedom of people to live how they choose, even if that means living apart. Being apart isn’t necessarily an injustice.”

In the strip, Falwell then gives the name of the recording group as “Apart-Aid.” The South African government’s policy of racial separation is called apartheid.

The News & Daily Advance of Lynchburg did not carry the strips this week, but Falwell said Friday that he obtained copies from a reporter.

He called the strips “typical political cartoons. They are vintage Doonesbury. I think the local paper objected to the portrayal of President Reagan as a racist . . . . I think that’s in bad taste.”