The New York Times reports Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell (TheTalk) was arrested on Wednesday, after being charged with possession of over 100 videos of child sexual abuse. Sacramento County authorities connected Bell, 49, to an online account containing 134 files of child abuse material, and found more after conducting a search of his home on Wednesday. He is now being held at Sacramento County Main Jail in lieu of $1 million bail money. Some of the videos were described by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office as being AI-generated, making Bell the first person to be arrested under a newly amended state law that made possessing it as illegal as real child abuse material.
Prior to this, Bell was best known for creating the syndicated comic strips Candorville and (with writer Theron Heir) Rudy Parkeditorial cartoons, and the autobiographical 2023 graphic novel TheTalk. He was the first African American cartoonist to have two syndicated strips, and to win the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. TheTalk earned him wider acclaim, making multiple top 10 lists, and awards from the NAACP, the American Library Association, and Publishers Weeklyas well as nominations from the Eisners, the Ignatz Awards, and the ALA’s Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction.
Bell will appear in court later today. In response to the news, Washington Post you have suspended Candorville from its comics sectionalthough it will still appear in the Sunday, January 19 edition because of production deadlines. Counterpoint Media, which distributes Bell’s cartoons in their daily newsletter, also said they have suspended distributing his work, but reruns of Rudy Park (which ended in 2018) would continue for the foreseeable future, stating, “While we are aware that the American system of justice presumes innocence until proven guilty, we feel it necessary to suspend Mr. Bell from future contributions to Counterpoint until more is known about the charges.”
Macmillan, owner of TheTalk Publisher Henry Holt, also issued a statement saying it is “aware of the arrest of Darrin Bell. These are disturbing allegations, and we take this matter extremely seriously. At this time, we are allowing due process to take its course and will take appropriate action as we get more confirmed information.” At the time of his arrest, Bell had a deal with Henry Holt for two books, with TheTalk being the first, while the second was set to be Come Back Around To Youa memoir centered on his relationships with his father and grandfather, and his enslaved ancestors.
Bell has four children, one of whom was the focus of TheTalkand The Beat is thinking of them in particular at this difficult time.
