‘Dear Editors and Readers’: Wiley Miller pens apology and appreciation to Spokesman-Review

EDITOR’S NOTE: Shortly after the controversy surrounding hidden words aimed at Pres. Trump in the Feb. 10 version of Non Sequitur, the comic’s creator, Wiley Miller, wrote a mailed letter to editors across the country whose newspaper’s published the strip. With Spokesman-Review readers overwhelmingly voting to have Non Sequitur return to this newspaper, Miller has updated that initial note to also include and address our subscribers.

Dear Editors and Readers of The Spokesman-Review,

I greatly appreciate your allowing me the opportunity to explain and apologize for the da Vinci strip that ran in Non Sequitur on Sunday, Feb. 10.

I drew the strip Christmas week. Because the strips are intricately drawn, I work seven days a week. That day, I took time to visit with our kids and grandson; it got late. I wanted to ink the da Vinci Sunday so I could upload it the next morning. I was watching a late-night cable news station as I sat inking; a featured story got my ire up. I scribbled the epithet without thinking, intending, however, to white it out the next morning. I finished inking another strip, shut off the lights and went to bed.

The next morning, in the hubbub of children’s visit, the correction was forgotten — a mistake, I’m devastated to say, I compounded six weeks later when the strip ran, and the oversight was pointed out by readers. My first thought was horror, and not apologizing immediately became my second mistake. Support for the epithet began rolling in; a way out suddenly appeared. In a tweet, I hinted that my oversight was intentional, an “Easter egg,” a new misjudgment of shameful proportions — the dumbest and most dumbfounding thing I’ve done in my sixty-seven years on this planet.

Remorse is an understatement. I’m gutted by my own poor judgment.

Non Sequitur has been my pride and joy, as well as livelihood, in a cartooning career that has spanned 42 years. The strip has been in print 27 years, and garnered many awards. During that time, I’ve drawn just shy of 10,000 strips, and not a single one contained such a vulgar, foolish, unprofessional “venting.”

I apologize to you, my editors and readers, for breaking trust with you, whom I owe a great debt for the many years you’ve run the strip and read it. I’d also like to assure you that no such breach will ever happen again. I intend to work hard at regaining your trust.

I am grateful that so many of you reached out to support the return of Non Sequitur to The Spokesman-Review. I look forward to meeting many of you when I visit Spokane later this week.

As a “Thank You” to all of you, I have drawn a Non Sequitur specifically for Spokane that is running in today’s newspaper.

Sincerely,

Wiley Miller

The Spokesman-Review readers voted and Non Sequitur will return to the comic pages of the paper on Sunday, Aug. 4.

The day after his comic returns to The Spokesman-Review, Wiley Miller will be a part of a special gathering of our very popular Northwest Passages book club and community forum. GET TICKETS HERE