An incendiary political cartoon in Wednesday's Boston Herald depicting a White House intruder asking President Obama if he has tried the new watermelon toothpaste is drawing fire for employing an offensive racial stereotype.

The cartoon below appears to reference an incident last week, when an Army veteran named Omar Gonzalez allegedly scaled the White House fence, overpowered a Secret Service agent to get into the White House, and made it all the way to the East Room before an (off-duty) guard tackled him. Some questioned the cartoonist Jerry Holbert's choice of words.

See also: 7 Embarrassing Times the Secret Service Screwed Up

This cartoon in today's @bostonherald is racist and offensive. The Herald should apologize. pic.twitter.com/jWNixzu1aD — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) October 1, 2014

Would it have been so bad to just say "peppermint" or "bubblegum"? @dankennedy_nu @universalhub pic.twitter.com/QGbNDwyEme — Greg Reibman (@Greg_Reibman) October 1, 2014

Reps from the Boston Herald could not be reached for comment. As of writing this post, the cartoon was still live on the Herald's website.

Meanwhile, a version of the same cartoon on GoComics.com referenced raspberry-flavored toothpaste. It wasn't clear which version of the cartoon was the original.

UPDATE:Oct. 1, 10:56 AM EST: Holbert appears to have changed the wording of the cartoon:

Huh: In Jerry Holbert’s GoComics archive, the toothpaste is “raspberry-flavored.” Who changed it to watermelon & why? pic.twitter.com/datXEdKUoL — Neetzan Zimmerman (@neetzan) October 1, 2014

Update:Oct. 1, 3:25 PM EST Holbert apologized for the cartoon, stating that he was inspired by a kids Colgate watermelon flavor" toothpaste in his home. “I was completely naive or innocent to any racial connotations,” Holbert said. “I wasn’t thinking along those lines at all.”

Additional reporting by Colin Daileda