Moomin character accused of racism

Certain cartoon characters from Europe such as Asterix, Smurfs and Tin Tin have become international children’s legends and from Finland it’s the Moomins.

So popular are the Moomins who first appeared in 1945 that these round fairy-tale characters with large snouts that make them resemble the hippopotamus appeared in books, comics, tv series as well as having two theme parks in Finland and Japan.

This year, it was agreed that the Brooklyn Public Library in New York would host an exhibition entitled Tove Jansson and the Moomins: The Door Is Always Open which is the first major showcase of the author’s work in the United States.

Moomin character Stinky accused of racism

Suddenly however, a problem arose and reportedly one of those involved in arranging the exhibition reported that in their opinion, a naughty character known as Stinky (Haisuli in Finnish) who loves to plays jokes on the Moomin family could be considered racist.

In the earliest illustrations of Stinky, he is depicted as being covered in black fur but by the 1990s this had turned brown, but today, he returned to the original black colour and this may be why his appearance was considered to be potentially racist.

Moomin character accused of racism and removed from New York exhibition

The matter was referred to Roleff Kråkström, CEO of Moomin Characters and he confirmed that the character could be removed from the display commenting to Hufvudstadsbladet “The library informed us that one of their patrons had interpreted Stinky as a potentially racist symbol. Based on their feedback, we agreed to update the visual content.”

Not all Moomin scholars (yes they do exist) agree with the decision as they argue that the whole point of the stories is to highlight tolerance and diversity and this is believed to be the first time in 80 years that anyone has suggested that Stinky might be seen as a racist figure, although times and tolerances have changed over the decades.

In today’s world of ongoing wars and religious intolerance, the removal of Stinky from this one exhibition is hardly likely to make a great difference although someone in America is probably pleased at the result.