Obama Joker artist unmasked: A fellow Chicagoan

 

When cryptic posters portraying President Obama as the Joker from "Batman" began popping up around Los Angeles and other cities, the question many asked was, Who is behind the image?

Was it an ultra-conservative grassroots group or a disgruntled street artist going against the grain?

Nope, it turns out, just a 20-year-old college student from Chicago.

Bored during his winter school break, Firas Alkhateeb, a senior history major at the University of Illinois, crafted the picture of Obama with the recognizable clown makeup using Adobe's Photoshop software.

Alkhateeb had been tinkering with the program to improve the looks of photos he had taken on his clunky Kodak camera. The Joker project was his grandest undertaking yet. Using a tutorial he'd found online about how to "Jokerize" portraits, he downloaded the October 23 Time Magazine cover of Obama and began digitally painting over it.

Four or five hours later, he happily had his product.

On Jan. 18, Alkhateeb uploaded the image to photo-sharing site Flickr (shown at right). Over the next two months, he amassed just a couple thousand hits, he said.

Then the counter exploded after a still-anonymous rogue famously found his image, digitally removed the references to Time Magazine, captioned the picture with the word "socialism" and hung printed copies around L.A., making headlines.

Alkhateeb's original Flickr page surpassed 20,000 views. The Times found his Flickr site last week thanks to a tip left by a loyal reader of The Ticket. By Friday, the page had been taken down.

On Alkhateeb's page, a manipulated image condemning fellow Chicagoan and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (captioned "epic fail") was mixed in with parodies of the "Guitar Hero" game franchises -- dubbed Quran Hero -- and of Napoleon riding a motorcycle (pictured after the jump).

Flickr had removed the Joker image due to copyright-infringement concerns, Alkhateeb says the company told him in an e-mail. A Flickr spokeswoman declined to comment due to a company policy that bars discussing inquiries about individual users.

Alkhateeb says he wasn't actively trying to cover his tracks, but he did want to lay low. He initially had concerns about ...

... connecting his name with anything critical of the president -- especially living in Chicago, where people are "very, very liberal," he said.

"After Obama was elected, you had all of these people who basically saw him as the second coming of Christ," Alkhateeb said. "From my perspective, there wasn't much substance to him."

"I abstained from voting in November," he wrote in an e-mail. "Living in Illinois, my vote means close to nothing as there was no chance Obama would not win the state." If he had to choose a politician to support, Alkhateeb said, it would be Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Possibly becoming a villain in his home city wasn't his only worry. Time's cover and the Joker obviously aren't Alkhateeb's copyrights to fool around with.

Concerned about a lawsuit, Alkhateeb, an unnamed superstar whose nationally recognized artwork had stunned friends and family, was relieved that the situation had floated for months without any major news organizations discovering that he was the man behind the paint.

After we contacted him, he hesitantly agreed to an interview.

If it's any consolation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that defends digital rights, says Alkhateeb has a strong fair-use defense if Time or DC Comics decides to take him to court -- that is if one even does file a lawsuit.

"You really want to think twice about going after a political commenter," said Corynne McSherry, a senior staff attorney at the EFF. In Time's case, "a news organization probably doesn't want to be in the situation of pursuing political criticism."

Perhaps the strongest case for anyone, McSherry said, is for Alkhateeb to claim money derived from people selling T-shirts with his picture. Is it worth pursuing? "It would be nice, but it's not that big of a deal," Alkhateeb said.

Although Alkhateeb claims he was making no political statement with the artwork, he's plugged into the Washington debate. Though born in the United States, his Palestinian family closely follows Middle Eastern politics.

"I think he's definitely doing better than Bush was," Alkhateeb said of Obama. Alkhateeb's views on foreign relations align with the Democrats, he said, while he prefers Republican ideals on domestic issues.

Alkhateeb's assessment of Obama: "In terms of domestic policy, I don't think he's really doing much good for the country right now," he said. "We don't have to 'hero worship' the guy."

Someday, Alkhateeb hopes to be a history teacher and high school football coach. He won't be pursuing a full-time career in art, but he'll continue playing with Photoshop on the side. He's honored by Shepard Fairey's assessment of his Joker picture, but disagrees with some of Fairey's comments criticizing the message of the Socialism poster.

"He made a picture of Bush as a vampire," Alkhateeb said about Fairey. "That's kind of speaking with two faces."

Regardless, Alkhateeb does agree with the Obama "Hope" artist about "socialism" being the wrong caption for the Joker image. "It really doesn't make any sense to me at all," he said. "To accuse him of being a socialist is really ... immature. First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?"

-- Mark Milian

No joke, click here for Twitter alerts on each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot or @mmilian

Photo credits: Firas Alkhateeb

Comments

[Dan]

Who said socialism was evil? Do you want a list, you silly, foolish liberal journalist? If you want socialism, move to Venuzuela or Cuba. Go, they (and I) will be glad to see you change teams.
Posted by: Banderman | August 18, 2009 at 03:51 PM
________

... or Canada, or France, or Sweden, or Norway, or Germany, or Belgium, or Australia, or Great-Britain, or Finland, or Japan, or...

Next!

[NannaMac]

Now what happens to the person that was arrested in Florida and how long will the police down there continue to search for more "victims, suspects and witnesses"...not sure what happened to make someone a "victim" but I guess they do since they are still searching for them. Maybe they should search for and read the First Amendment of our Constitution then they might realize who is really the victims here.

[M00t]

OPERATION: SOCIALOLISM IS STILL GO

[so stupid]

"socialism is evil" is the easily the stupidest thing i have ever read. wow.
"Read history" to understand why socialism is evil is the second stupidest thing I have ever read.

[Old China Hand]

Who said being a socialist is evil? My guess is not any of the cretins who feed off the lives of others. The fucking douchebags.

[foobar]

College boys are naughty.

[Philip P]

Plenty of others have already explained the idiocy of the Obama = socialist = Nazi = pure evil equation, so the only thing I'll add is that all those who encourage Firas Alkhateeb to "read some history" might like to look into the violent suppression of the socialist movement in the US and explain how that fits in with the ideals of freedom of expression, and freedom of political association that your country is supposed to espouse.

That said, I think the vilest posts on these threads come from those on the (ha! ha!) "left" accusing Firas Alkhateeb of being an anti-American terrorist illegal immigrant. First up, what makes you all so sure he's a Muslim? Given the make-up of the Palestinian diaspora, the chances are just as good that he's an atheist liberal or a Christian, you ignorant shits. Seems like a nice young guy, with the admirable if very dull ambition of becoming a school teacher (and football coach, bless him) who accidentally created a harmless image that's been used in ways he could never have intended.

And anyone who thinks that the Democrats will be upset by the fact that the image originates with an Arab-American with moderate views is lacking a sense of irony.

Oh, and I can see from your posts (grammar, spelling) that some of you are only semi-literate, but are you really so narrow-minded that the words in the text of the article just slide by on either side?

[Jeanette]

Well done sir! I would have put the word Facsisim on the poster as that more accurately portrays what oblahma is. He could care less about "the people". He is an elitist, globalist narssist.

[Joness :)]

Obama is such a puppet but a evil one the world needs to realise that and wakee up. including all the news an papers out there. everythin thats goin to happen or is happen now i.e fema camps,fema coffins,9-11,man made illnesses,an rioting. an all this is too do with the depopulation agenda. an the ones behind it are the ones u vote..even if u pick a different party its still goin to be run by the people that whats this to happen... Where all sheep until we stand up....( think bout it )

[Farouk]

I'm a little concerned at how Mr Alkhateed states that he isn't out to promote any political message. Yet on his flicka web-site he not only does that, but the message is quite clear, in his Anti-American rhetoric which has no problem berating your president for supporting Israel and not Palestinians. This is further substantiated how he posts a map of America’s plans for a future Middle-East. That makes me question his veracity on how he didn’t promulgate the Obama Socialism poster.

[Jim Davis]

What, you mean this wasn't a vast right-wing conspiracy after all? Aw, shucks!!!

[E]

I SAID SOCIALISM IS EVIL. The person advancing socialism doesnt have to be evil. The result of socialism is the same regardless of the goodness/evilness of the person bringing it. SOCIALISM = END OF PERSONAL FREEDOM = FUEDALISM

[E]

I SAID SOCIALISM IS EVIL. The person advancing socialism doesnt have to be evil. The result of socialism is the same regardless of the goodness/evilness of the person bringing it. SOCIALISM = END OF PERSONAL FREEDOM = FUEDALISM

[andrew]

good one buddy. just another ignorant idiot tearing the
country apart. i don't need health care, but you look
like you might. real smart buddy.

[carmen o'neill]

What amazes me is that Bush can be portrayed as the devil and no one would have said a word about it. OBama is a joke

[Joe Racz]

Alright,
We had our first "Elitist" Democrat chime in below spouting how dumb people are that aren't "Democrat/Liberals. Thats kind of how Obama ran his whole campaign. Do we have an actual Birth Certificate yet or College Transcripts yet? Amazing! The guy who forced Hillary Clinton to post her whole agenda to the public still has not posted any of his personal information... Hmmmm?
I guess us idiots are just making another "Nonsensical Point." Oh, to be an average person with an average IQ. I feel so average, not like the smart welfare recipients who voted for Obama!!!!! I'm sorry, I left out the "Socialists" too.... I'm sorry, I'm just "Average..."

[NSB]

This still comes back to President Obama being called a socialist. He isn't a socialist. He isn't doing anything that hasn't been done before. Haven't the rich always paid a higher rate of taxes in this country? But now it's socialism because conservatives always use scare tactics that make you think that if you don't think their way, you can't be a christian. Didn't Jesus say if you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn't have one. He also spoke of taxes. He said give to Caesar what is Caesar's. Everyone is so worried that they may have to pay a little more taxes. I guess someone making 250K plus will just have to drive a lower class BMW. I can just hear the angels weeping for them.

[Patrick]

Loved it - Loved it - Loved it!!!!! hehehe

[Chelle]

As a citizen of Chicago I am so proud! I love his picture and keep it up as a reminder of what ignorance in this county can do...elect THAT man as president!

See ya at the bottom...he's bringing us there fast!

[Lana]

Sounds like he meant no real harm. I am a big President Obama supporter, but I say the kid just had a lot of time on his hands and who really cares. We know President Obama will go down in history as the best President ever. I mean, no one recognized Martin Luther King as the great Civil Right Leader either until he died.

[robert blakely]

firas alkhateeb is a fake and a phony.while he's trying to deface obama, i don't see the right-wingers doing very much to help the palestinian cause in gaza.I think he's confused about what is really going on.I forgot he has foreign ancestry, try running for office and see how much suppport YOU WILL get.STUPID.

[poop]

It's not racism. He gave Barack Obama the joker face. He didn't turn him white. He didn't do it to turn him white. The artist, and you can call him an artist if you can call Shepard Fairey an artist, wanted to prove a point, using a metaphor, if you will. This has nothing to do with racism, it does, however, have something to do with socialism. The artist thinks that Obama is a socialist. The artist believes that Obama is disrupting the very core of our society, or is attempting to, just as Heath Ledger's Joker did in the movie. However, if you don't choose to accept this as a political statement, but rather a racial attack, then you should take into account that Barack Obama is as much white as he is black, and it shouldn't be controversial for him to embrace his white ancestry, just as it shouldn't be controversial

[Autonomy_Now]

Only a racist terrorist white-supremacist would dare to criticize our corporate overlord Obama!

[Chupabama]

"Alkhateeb's original Flickr page surpassed 20,000 views. The Times found his Flickr site last week thanks to a tip left by a loyal reader of The Ticket. By Friday, the page had been taken down."

The EFF should get involved and defend this guys rights to fair use.

[Jason]

Wow. Some of the comments here are brutal. The funny thing is, so many people are still backing the whole "Obama/Joker/Socialism" fad by buying shirts and bumper stickers...

Have any of you ever stopped to think about the utter lack of connection between The Joker and Socialism? I would have to say the Joker is an Anarchist, not a socialist. Anyone who's using this image seriously is pretty much a joke.

If you're upset about the state of things that's fine. But at least have your imagery make sense.

[flo dunning]

Children will play, and color, but most of the time its with crayons

[Sonia]

Since when were Photoshopped pictures "art"?
The term is used shamefully loose.

[Francoise Dubois]

How dare Alkhateeb deface our president like this? Despicable. Also I want to know the identity of the jerk who added the word Socialism underneath as if there were any correlation between the image and the term. We never came closer to fascism than under Bush and yet these racist ignoramuses call Obama a nazi, a socialist, a marxist without any foundation whatsoever. They sicken me. Oh and reading the comments, I'm appalled, I thought only us Liberals read the LA Times! Apparently I stumbled into a snake pit of right wing extremists, makes me sick and sad.

[Perplexed in Portland]

Wow, the idiocy of you people just blows me away. It's political satire! Get over it!

And now, feel free to start flaming me and telling me I hate America. Go ahead. I know you can't resist.

[Brad]

Why are we giving this 'clown' the time of day?

He made a politically charged photo manipulated picture and it is newsworthy? First of all he didn't vote, which I find funny, because if you took all the people who didn't vote because they thought they had no chance or couldn't make a difference, you could probably sway an election. If you purposely did not vote, honestly I don't really care what you have to say. Its our right, exercise it.

While the original image was humorous, the re-appropriation with new caption really isn't even clever. Joker or Joke would have made considerably more sense. Socialism and the Joker have absolutely no connection. I'm critical of the president like many other Americans, but simply put this is rubbish news.

[Kara]

Funny. They were desperately seeking an "ULTRA- right wing" group and all they found was a left wing college student. Can you imagine what this article would have been like if their wish came true. It's just like the lady at Barney Frank's meeting holding Obama as a Nazi sign was a Lyndon La Rouche DEMOCRAT>

[bjl]

This photograph would clearly fall under the category of "parody" and would be considered fair use.

[Leo]

Well, these "socialism" comments make me laugh, think of all the countries that have a public health system now, New Zealand, Australia, France, Britain, Canada, Belgium, Japan, Germany... the list goes on, are all these countries "commies"?. All have much older life expectations (save Britain) than the US, and fairly reasonable levels 0f tax...

[TruthIsRevolution]

I think the image itself is very accurate. Obama hides behind a mask. What we see is a false face; the same as the clown hiding underneath his makeup.

The joke is on us, the American people. Fools believed Obama was some sort of "saviour". He is not. He is a manipulative politician, which is a special breed of sociopath, nothing more.

North Korea is busily trying to arm themselves with LONG RANGE NUCLEAR WEAPONS so they can threaten the Western World, and that fool Obama is doing nothing. (But the dumb minorities will continue to love and worship him anyways.) North Korea hopes to have long-range nukes by 2010 so that they can threaten the United States and demand tribute (that politicians will then call "aid".) If Obama had any legitimacy he would attack North Korea now, before its too late. But Obama is just a calculating politician and realizes that such a war, even though absolutely necessary, would cost him political capital. The jokes on us.

[TruthIsRevolution]

I think the image itself is very accurate. Obama hides behind a mask. What we see is a false face; the same as the clown hiding underneath his makeup.

The joke is on us, the American people. Fools believed Obama was some sort of "saviour". He is not. He is a manipulative politician, which is a special breed of sociopath, nothing more.

North Korea is busily trying to arm themselves with LONG RANGE NUCLEAR WEAPONS so they can threaten the Western World, and that fool Obama is doing nothing. (But the dumb minorities will continue to love and worship him anyways.) North Korea hopes to have long-range nukes by 2010 so that they can threaten the United States and demand tribute (that politicians will then call "aid".) If Obama had any legitimacy he would attack North Korea now, before its too late. But Obama is just a calculating politician and realizes that such a war, even though absolutely necessary, would cost him political capital. The jokes on us.

[Jocelynn]

Why do we bother to give these persons not worthy of the skin they are in publicity. You don't like OUR President go hate/live somewhere else. Somewhere where you can't even walk the street for threat of suicide and car bombers.
Go Home to Palestine where your people hail from. See how free you are there! America...Pay the little people (Alkhateeb and Sgt.Crowley) behind the curtain no mind.

[Dan]

We had our first "Elitist" Democrat chime in below spouting how dumb people are that aren't "Democrat/Liberals.

Posted by: Joe Racz | August 19, 2009 at 07:43 AM
__________
You're not dumb becaure you're not liberal or a Democrat, you're dumb because you accept to be manilulated to fight against your own interests.

You know who the real elitists are? Those who could not care one iota about you, sir? Not the ones in your mind, or the one you were told to hate
It's those lobbyists and manipulaters of the law for their own greedy interest, who do not a glimmer of care if you're being trampled along the way, or whether you yourself cannot make ends meet. Like, you know, those right-wingers you love so much.
And those, sir, not only do they not care about you, they have somehow convinced you that they do with their pseudo-"populist" talking points and dojuble speak. And you've swallowed that whole for over a decade, if not two; but more mind-bogglingly you keep DEFENDING them.
That's why people call you dumb.

[Dan]

What amazes me is that Bush can be portrayed as the devil and no one would have said a word about it. OBama is a joke

Posted by: carmen o'neill | August 19, 2009 at 07:18 AM
_________

False equivalence: Bush IS the devil.

Where were you the last eight years?

[Max]

For all those who are up in arms over the Obama - Joker image: You're all hypocrites.

Bush had it much much worse and yet you didn't see anything wrong with it.
Now that the tide has turned your outraged??

This is further proof you people are simply ignorant. You make me sick. You shouldn't be allowed to vote.

[Scrat]

Everything Francis Dubois said re: fascism in this country is wrong, the US is now closer to fascism with the bile and nastiness coming from the likes of him more than any right winger at this time.

[Jake Daab]

Thanks for the picture Firas, but an even bigger thank you to the person who put the socialist posters together.

[kevin]

He didn't really spend 5 hrs on that picture did he.

[Hail to the lemmings]

Most of the people that comment here are so sad. For you its only black and white (and no i dont mean it in a racial way). For you theres only democratic or republican.

Somebody talks about social health care and you go crazy because of the word "social" in it, because some evil man also used it in the past. And you know what? This evil people found exactly the kind of people like you in the past. Unable to think for themselves, blinded by propaganda.

Im sure some of you dont want to turn "left" or "right" because of their political agenda. The world is gray, i just want to remind you. Not one word or one thing defines a person for the rest of his life. Youre pathetic at least. If he would have called it "state financed private health care" you would have all shitted yourself.
And im not a fan of Obama by the way. I find the poster funny and well made, why not. Its not art, but a lot of things are not art and stupid people pay for it :)
Only for stupid people this poster means that what you see is the truth. Because if theres is apicture and if its on television than it MUST be true. Right?
Think for yourself. And by the way, i can call every american that went to school an socialist. Because they all were part of a group, the Emos, the skaters, the cheerleaders, the cool ones, the elvis immitators, the beach boys, the football players, the geeks club. And the ones that were not in one of these, were punished for it, they were the outsiders. Another group. Sounds socialistic too me. I could say it and normally somebody in America would have to shout now: "Oh my god, did i hear the word socialist? Thats close to communism? Right? And thats evil? Right?" Yeah right little muppet. But i dont say it, cause its immature. So go on with your hate speeches.

First the democrats, please sing with me: "Bad guy that did this poster! Obama is a god. Bad guy"!!

Now the republicans, please sing with me: "Good guy that did this poster, Obama is a terrorist, Good guy"!!

You are all wrong, simply wrong. Please all start to think , not for me, for yourself and learn to judge for yourself and not some pre-chewed opinion by ANY of the news networks. But be aware, to think makes life difficult, cause you see a lot of problems in the world. (Oh my god, thats such a left thing to say) .

I hope you all end up with the american dream. Beeing driven from hospital to hospital cause your insurance only has contracts with some of them. The "death panels", (what a funny word again for the lemmings) right now are ruled by the insurance managers by the way. A tumor surgery? Too expensive for us, lets try something else or fight in court until the guy is dead, its cheaper. You know its just a cost thing after all. And thats all that counts in america right? Profit over people, and you all clap in the hands and shout hooorrayy and try to defend it. Im sometimes wondering why you dont burn women with red hair as witches anymore. Why did you stop?

I dont know maybe im just to social to try to explain it to you lemmings after all. Just too social. Now go and fight each other again.

[socalmaverick]

to all the clowns that have been calling him names and tossing slurs at him.
what have you accomplished but a red neck?

yes his parents are from"the Middle East"
where are your parents from?
racists.
I'm quite sure you are not native American Indians

[Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

I guess this guy is an Obama Joker Artist, yet the true Obama Joker Artist is the guy who took that image, put socialist under it and started putting up posters.
It isn’t this guy’s art that's making headlines, it’s the socialist poster. No even really cared about this guys Time cover until the real Obama Joker Artist started putting up posters. He put his on Flickr the other guy put his on the street.

[emily]

hats off to free speech

[Nique_mil]

I'm a big supporter of the Obama administration and hope and pray daily that they can lead this country out of the mess in which it is. But I can't understand why people are so upset about this portrait. Please leave the young man alone. Everybody has the right to express oneself. Isn't this a free country? Otherwise we will all sound like the Palins and Limbaughs out there.

[rhonda vasquez]

edwardprzydzial.com put his art on the street, the news and the internet and this guy steals it and posts it online and claims he's thew artist? not. edward is the artist not this firas alkheteeb... firas is a fraud. his picture he posted on flickr was removed because he violated 2 copyrights, time magazine for abusing the cover and edward for trying to claim his photoshop art.

[rhonda vasquez]

edwardprzydzial.com put his art on the street, the news and the internet and this guy steals it and posts it online and claims he's thew artist? not. edward is the artist not this firas alkheteeb... firas is a fraud. his picture he posted on flickr was removed because he violated 2 copyrights, time magazine for abusing the cover and edward for trying to claim his photoshop art.

[john brown]

HELLO, the Flicker people are dishonest.
The image would NOT be copyright infringement.
Fair use allows parody and use of the image to make a political comment gets first amendment preference.
They are lying.
They just don't like the message.
Think that the internet gives us extended free speech? It doesn't.
Think that fascists only wear jack boots and march in neat rows? They don't.

Posted by: IP guy | August 17, 2009 at 09:17 PM

(actually they arent. flickr has a tendency to look the other way--if stuff isnt controversal enough to cause a stir. thats wha mr firas picture did. it caused a stir. why? it went viral. the moment that picture became a poster and a tee and a bumper sticker, was the moment flickr knew it had an issue on its hands. yes parody is free speech. dont get me wrong. parody when it goes to profit isnt. plz remember that when the real "merchants" are discovered (prolly never) and they have to explain themselves.)

Parody is protected free speech.
Political Speech is also protected.

He violated no copyrights.

Posted by: Newtons.Bit | August 17, 2009 at 08:58 PM

(tell the photographer who took the president's picture that).

remember gang....he's a small fish. he wont be sued. waste of time. time-warner wants the "capitalists" that posted the finished product or who are making money off of this.

as for the "racism" part....well stupidity and racism do go hand in hand. the irony is he is a kucinsch fan. weird.