NEW YORK—Explaining that it regrets the oversight, The New York Times apologized Monday for its decision to run the anti-Semitic comic strip Shylock The Shyster for the past 37 years. “We are deeply sorry for printing this strip on a continuous basis in more than 13,000 editions of our paper published since 1982,” read a statement from the news organization, which added that at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise, a comic that follows the adventures of a hook-nosed, droopy-eyed Jew who frequently engages in usury and conspires to promulgate a worldwide Jewish order is not only insensitive, but also dangerous. “We are currently evaluating our editorial processes to determine how we spent nearly four decades giving a prominent place on our opinion page to images of a kvetching, greedy Jew who kills Christian children and uses their blood to bake matzo, and we anticipate making significant changes to prevent such occurrences in the future. The matter remains under internal review, and we are committed to investigating the decision to disseminate materials that depict the violin-playing Shylock conspiring to murder Jesus with his friends, Shlomo the Money Man and Rebecca the Beautiful Jewess, before he goes on to seize control of the world’s media and financial industries.” When reached for comment, officials at The New York Times confirmed that, at present, they have no plans to end the 17-year run of their other opinion-page comic strip, Fun Times With Muhammad.

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