Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse has been nominated for a Peabody. To celebrate, the documentary has been released for a limited time to be streamed.
The documentary explores the work of cartoonist Art Spiegelman and the impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, about his parents’ survival of the Holocaust. A defender of free speech, Spiegelman has spoken out as book bans spread across the country.
This documentary originally aired on April 15th, 2025.
The 86th annual Peabody Awards will be held on May 31 in Los Angeles.
I’ll admit I haven’t had a chance to watch Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse which is airing on PBS as part of the 39th season of the award-winning documentary series American Masters. After this latest revelation, I’m not sure I want to. Originally reported by Anthony Kaufman for Documentary, PBS cut out a 90-second segment of the film where Spiegelman referred to President Trump’s “smug and ugly mug.” PBS has been embattled with the President and Republican part who have been trying to cut funding for the broadcast channel.
In May, the President signed an executive order directing federal funding cuts to PBS and NPR as well as root out other indirect sources of public financing for the two. Trump and Republicans claim the outlets “receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’” It’s not hard to connect the dots that this is the reason for the editing demands.
According to the Documentary article, the filmmakers of the documentary were told to cut a 90 second sequence twelve days before it was broadcast on April 2017. The segment is from 2017 and Spiegelman discusses an anti-Trump cartoon he created for the 2017 Women’s March newspaper.
The filmmakers, directors Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin, who produced the film alongside Sam Jinishian and Alicia Sams had to choose to either back their licensing deal or agree to PBS’ decision and let it be broadcast with the edit.
You can see some of the deleted scene in this Instagram post:
In the scene, Spiegelman scholar Hillary Chute says:
“In this Trump and post-Trump moment, [Spiegelman] recognized how useful Maus was as a text for people explicitly reacting to and fighting fascism.”
PBS also removed Chute’s words “in this Trump and post-Trump moment,” which alters the meaning of her comments and the original context.
The decision to censor the film was made by the programming executives at PBS National and agreed to by the leadership of WNET which is one of the largest PBS networks and makes up 350 member stations and produces American Masters.
A WNET spokesperson said in response to the edits:
“as it was no longer in context today. The change was made to maintain the integrity and appropriateness of the content for broadcast at this time.”
While that might be the official statement of WNET and PBS, it’s hard not to think the real reason is that Executive Order and Trump’s focus on defunding PBS and NPR.
It also follows a pattern of media bending over backwards to not anger Trump and Republicans. Trump has threatened and launched investigations as well as filed lawsuits in a revenge tour and media has generally caved to the mad tyrant. In December, ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump, agreeing to offer a written apology and make a $15 million “charitable contribution” to Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum. Trump has also filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS claiming they edited a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. He also sued The Des Moines Register, its parent company Gannett, and pollster Ann Selzer for publishing a poll suggesting Trump would lose Iowa. There’s an attack on free speech by the administration and instead of fighting against it, fights the media would likely win, they’re giving in, a step towards total fascist control. In PBS’ case they’re worried about funding, as if this editing would change that. In others, it’s Trump’s power over broadcast licenses and parent corporations. Jeff Bezos, whose companies true value is in their government contracts, censored The Washington Post‘s opinion section to be less critical of Trump resulting in contributors and editors to leave. Democracy didn’t die in the dark, it died when the broligarchs took over the media and news.
There’s irony in capitulating to a Fascist by censoring a documentary that is anti-fascist. Remember this when PBS says it fights for free speech during its next pledge drive.
Posted two weeks ago, it looks like we missed PBS posting a trailer for Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse.
Explore the work of cartoonist Art Spiegelman and the impact of his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, about his parents’ survival of the Holocaust. A defender of free speech, Spiegelman has spoken out as book bans spread across the country.
Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse is directed by Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin.
American Masters – Art Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse, premieres nationwide Tuesday, April 15 at 10 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS App.
The Small Press Expo (SPX) has announced an exciting collaboration with the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center to present a film series celebrating comics and their impact on storytelling. This special series will feature screenings of acclaimed films and documentaries, culminating in the highly anticipated SPX 2025 weekend, that will occur September 13-14.
The series launches with the Washington, DC premiere ofArt Spiegelman: Disaster is My Muse! on Sunday, March 9, at 7:00 PM at the AFI Silver Theatre.
This intimate documentary explores the life and creative process of legendary Maus cartoonist Art Spiegelman.
Following the screening, co-director Philip Dolan will participate in a Q&A session to discuss the making of the film and Spiegelman’s profound influence on the comics world.
Throughout the year, the SPX-AFI Silver film series will continue with a diverse lineup of films celebrating comics, cartoonists, and their unique storytelling power.
In April, the series will feature Funny Pages, a teen coming-of-age story about becoming a cartoonist, screening in 35mm with a special appearance by director Owen Kline. Tickets go on sale next week at AFI.com/Silver.
Further screenings and guest appearances will be announced in the coming months.
As part of Arlington Public Library‘s “Arlington Reads” program, Art Spiegelman talked about his award-winning graphic novel Maus and the importance of comics as part of the library’s Banned Book Week presentation entitled “Get Graphic.” You can watch the presentation on demand for a limited time.
Small Press Expo has announced the sponsorship of the World Premiere of Married To Comics, which will be held at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center on Friday, September 8, at 7PM.
Married to Comics, by veteran documentarian John Kinhart, is the story of graphic novelist Carol Tyler and her husband, the ground-breaking and influential cartoonist Justin Green, who passed away last year.
The documentary offers a rare glimpse into the life and art of two giants of autobiographical comics, who are also married. Laying their personal lives to bare in comics, including the intimate details of their troubled marriage, the two of them pioneered and set the bar for one of comics’ most important genres.
There will be on-screen appearances by famed cartoonists Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Phoebe Gloeckner, and Denis Kitchen, along with many others.
Following the screening, there will be a conversation between Carol Tyler, John Kinhart and the esteemed publisher, Gary Groth of Fantagraphics, the publisher of Carol Tyler’s award winning graphic novels.
The screening of Married to Comics is part of SPX 2023, which will be held September 9-10, with events throughout the D.C. area in the days leading up to the show. More information on SPX 2023 can be found here.
The fundraising effort was in response to a Tennessee school board’s vote of 10-0 to ban the graphic novel from being used to teach about the Holocaust in school. The school board claims some of the language and images are offensive.
A little over a year later, Nirvana Comics has raised over $100,000 and given away 1,000s of copies of Maus for free across the US and the world.
The comic store has continued their mission by “doing outreach programs to use comics to teach kids” and also founded their own Free Little Library for kids.
Check out some of the highlights of their updates on their ongoing project below. You can read the full posts here and here.
One year ago something happened, maybe you’ve heard the story? In response to the local banning of the book Maus we decided to give away whatever copies we had for free to students! This rather modest plan to combat censorship soon began to grow and we launched a fundraising initiative in order to give away as many copies of Maus for free as possible. Because of you all, because so many people showed up and donated, we were able to raise over $100,000 in a week and give away literally a thousand copies of the book Maus for free across the US and around the world!
Since then we’ve worked to continue this mission by doing outreach programs to use comics to teach kids, and founding our own Free Little Library that kids can use. It’s our goal to never let a price tag stand in the way of kids and reading!
There’s just one more story to tell.
As we were locking up today one last car pulled up. A woman came into our shop and asked about the free copies of Maus.
After she received her copy she kindly thanked us and then revealed she was a child holocaust survivor. A Dutch child smuggled away at the age of 2 while her parents went on to Auschwitz.
This.
This is why we did this y’all, because we truly believe the more people are taught about this, the less likely it is to happen again.
Remembering all that happened last year and this weekend, the long hours, the harassment, the threats, the non stop work. It was all worth it.
Tomorrow we’ll open up our doors and business will resume, but the impact you made by donating your time, your money, and in several cases used copies of Maus. The impact will still be there.
Thank you for being a part of this journey with us!
12 years of podcasting & I finally did an episode about Art Spiegelman‘s Maus.
Guests
Ethan Heitner is a cartoonist who lives in New York City. among other things. Most recently he helped edit the 51st issue of the radical political comix anthology World War 3 Illustrated, available now from AK Press and subtitled “The World We Are Fighting For.”
Leo Ferguson is the Director of Strategic Projects at Jews For Racial & Economic Justice. He is the founder of JFREJ’s Jews of Color caucus, lead organizer for the Jews of Color National Convening, and a lead author of Understanding Antisemitism. He is a graduate of the Grace Paley Organizing Fellowship, The Bend The Arc Selah Fellowship, the JOIN Don’t Kvetch, Organize Masterclass, proudly Black & Jewish, a lifelong New Yorker, and a musician.
Gregory Paul Silber is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and critic specializing in comic books and pop culture. His work has appeared in outlets like PanelXPanel, Shelfdust, NeoText Review, The Daily Dot, and The Comics Beat, which is home to his weekly humor column, “Silber Linings.” He is also a comic book writer and a freelance comics editor.
Tennessee bookstore Fairytales Bookstore and More has announced they’re partnering with school librarians to give away free copies of Maus to local students.
The campaign is in response to a local Tennessee school board’s decision to ban Maus from being used to teach the Holocaust due to “objectionable content”.
Nirvana Comics in Knoxville, Tennessee is running a GoFundMe to raise money and purchase copies of Maus. Their plan is to give away the copies to local students as well as those across the US. Students interested in getting one can message the store on Facebook or Instagram.
