Union-Tribune note to readers appearing on the comics page Feb. 15, 2019.
Union-Tribune note to readers appearing on the comics page Feb. 15, 2019.

Miller won the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year for his biting satirical strip “Non Sequitur.”

On Friday, The San Diego Union-Tribune announced that “Non Sequitur” would end its run immediately in the daily section and eventually cease appearing on Sundays.

The U-T joined dozens of other newspaper clients of the Andrews McMeel syndicate to drop the strip after last Sunday’s installment included a message to President Trump to go “f— yourself.”

In a note to readers just beneath “Mallard Fillmore,” the U-T said it had discontinued the strip because of a “lewd comment” inserted by Miller.

“We consider his actions a serious breach of trust — both the insertion of a hidden lewd comment and the lack of forthrightness after the fact,” the note said.

Miller, 67, had tweeted about his “little Easter egg,” saying: “Can you find it?” He later said in a statement that he had intended to remove the vulgar remark before the strip was distributed.

“I can’t recall the last time a comic strip lost so many clients in one fell swoop,” said Michael Cavna, who covers the comics industry for The Washington Post.

Cavna, who once worked for the U-T and drew the “Warped” strip, on Tuesday wrote about the cancellations.

Editor and Publisher Jeff Light made the decision to pull the strip, said Lora Cicalo, U-T managing editor.

“Like most people, we learned of the ‘Easter egg’ reference and Miller’s subsequent explanation as news service stories began moving early in the week detailing the controversy,” she said Saturday.
 
With Sunday color comics printed far in advance, “Non Sequitur” will be appearing that day at least through March 5, she said.
 
Although U-T copy editors once checked advance copies of strips, Cicalo said that’s no longer the case.

“There is not an expectation that someone will pore over every word in our comics pages; we don’t have the staff or the time for that,” she said. “The syndicates will often indicate if there is a matter of taste or controversy that editors should be aware of.”
 
The U-T, which hasn’t yet decided on a replacement strip, has opted to pull individual strips for a single day in the past for “offensive images or themes,” she said, “but I cannot recall an instance in which a cartoonist tried to sneak something into a strip that was clearly out of bounds.”

A Daily Cartoonist report has a list of papers dropping the strip, and Cavna said he spoke with Andrews McMeel on Thursday, after cancellations by the Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee.

“The syndicate confirmed to me that the number of client papers dropping NS was ‘nearing 50,’” he said.

The U-T shared reader reactions in a letters-to-the-editor posting. They ranged from “Bravo” to “NOOOO!”

Kathleen McCord of Encinitas wrote: “I thought you were brave enough to continue this brilliant comic strip despite the panic over a tiny unrecognizable scribble of words.”

But Greg Bryan of San Diego decried “the raunchiest language I have ever read in an established and family newspaper.”

Andrews McMeel didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Matthew T. Hall, the U-T’s editorial and opinion director, tweeted Friday: “For those wondering: yes we did drop Wiley Miller’s strip, “Non Sequitur,” because he told the president to f— himself. We ran this note today, joining other papers that dumped him, too.”

Hall then posted an image of the vulgarity, and wrote: “Most people didn’t even notice it when the cartoonist added this nearly illegible scribble to a corner of Sunday’s cartoon. I’m all for second chances but that’s an unforgivable sin in our business, where fairness is a foundation. It’s unacceptable. And it cost him.”

In a statement, the syndicate said: “We are sorry we missed the language in our editing process. If we had discovered it, we would not have distributed the cartoon without it being removed. We apologize to ‘Non Sequitur’s’ clients and readers for our oversight.”

Updated at 2:35 p.m. Feb. 16, 2019