SEATTLE - Throughout her career Molly Norris has received acclaim for her colorful cartoons. But her latest work has brought on a different spotlight, one that has made her afraid to show her face.
"I've had some death threats from Muslims on Facebook and e-mail," she said.
In her latest cartoon posted on her Blog and on Facebook, Molly suggested Thursday be "Everybody Draw Muhammed Day."
She was responding to the irreverent TV show South Park after pressure from a radical Islamic group, Viacom censored a cartoon depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammed in a bear suit.
"I regret my cartoon the way I made it. I wish it would have said 'Everybody draw the CEO of Viacom Day,'" says Norris.
For most Muslims, like those at SeaTac's Aslam Mosque, it is considered sacrilegious to draw Muhammed.
"Especially in this day and age that somebody would intentionally instigate a fire, I don't think it's anything funny about it," says Islam Wardak.
The swell of support on Facebook for Molly's cartoon prompted Pakistan to pull it off-line as well as YouTube. Molly says if she could do it again, she'd target her anger towards censorship elsewhere.
"What started as something about censorship has ended in censorship. It's a full circle situation," she said.
Today local supporters of Molly handed out fliers on Capitol Hill and the U-District. There are now two pages set up by Facebook users, one for "Draw Muhammed Day" and one against it. Both have a little more than hundred-thousand supporters.
