New Yorker's Comey Cover Is Generating Buzz

A New Yorker cover generating a lot of buzz likens former FBI director James Comey to somebody else who suffered a very controversial removal: United Airlines passenger David Dao. The cover for the May 22 edition shows Comey being dragged off a plane by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a police uniform, with President Trump as the pilot looking on, USA Today reports. "It's probably a bit of a leap," artist Barry Blitt says of his cover. At 6-foot-8, Blitt observes in brief comments to the New Yorker, Comey "probably would have been happy to give up his seat in a cramped cabin."

Blitt has provided many New Yorker covers over the years, including the 2008 Obama fist bump one, and the "Ejected" cover is being praised as one of his finest. Plenty of sketches came in, but Blitt "sent this one where, with an easy glide of his pen, he outlined the heart of the issue, giving voice to the outrage we feel on both sides of the aisle," art director Francoise Mouly tells the Washington Post. Mouly calls the artwork an example of how "deep artists can go by embracing nonsense and illogic—a response on par with Trump’s actions." (Here's how late-night hosts reacted to Comey's firing.)