A PULITZER Prize-winning cartoonist gave a now-disturbing message about taking kids’ innocence before he was arrested on child pornography charges.
Darrin Bell, aged 49, gained popularity for his illustrations portraying Donald Trump as Hitler. However, he is now facing serious allegations of distributing more than 100 disturbing AI-generated pictures depicting child sexual exploitation.
The former contributor for The Washington Post, who is a father, was apprehended at his residence in Sacramento, California by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday.
Law enforcement authorities were alerted to Bell’s involvement in this heinous crime following a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The organization informed deputies that 18 files containing explicit child abuse material had been circulated online.
After investigating the post, detectives were able to link them to a sick user who had uploaded a massive 134 pornographic videos. They later allegedly determined that Bell ran the account.
Investigators stormed the artist’s house and nabbed him before locking him in the Sacramento County Main Jail, where he’s being held on a $1 million bail.
Bell enjoyed mainstream success for his fiery political illustrations. In 2023, he published a graphic novel called The Talk, which was about his decision to talk to his son about race in America.
The memoir was inspired by the murder of George Floyd, as Bell decided to teach his child that he would inevitably be mistreated because of his skin color, he told ABC News.
He encouraged parents to share this grim prediction with kids and take away their innocence in an effort to teach them about “how irrational people can be.”
“Because someday they’re gonna run into a situation where no matter how well behaved they are, how well dressed they are, somebody in a position in a position of authority is gonna decide to negatively affect their life,” he said.
DISTURBED DRAWINGS
Bell was active on social media and spent most of his time posting his political work on his Substack, Darrin Bell’s Disobey in Advance.
In one drawing he shared several times on Instagram, he depicted Trump as an Adolph Hitler-type figure standing at a podium for a speech.
On the podium, he drew an image that resembles the Nazi Party symbol, but instead of a swastika, there’s a T turned to an angle.
In another illustration, Bell drew Trump having a meltdown over the poor performance of MAGA-endorsed politicians in the 2022 midterm elections.
In that cartoon, the artist depicted the so-called “Red Wave” as an exploded bottle of ketchup that painted a wall behind the screaming president.
At the time, fans couldn’t get enough of Bell’s drawings. One follower commented, “This is good. I laughed right out loud,” on the comic of the president’s childish tantrum.
However, now, Bell’s arrest and smug attitude have earned him a wave of backlash, as outraged users flood his comments with calls for justice.
“Prison is so fitting for this guy. Don’t mess with children,” commented one furious user on a post.
Another person wrote, “It’s staggering how you spent the past years calling Trump and his supporters rapists, groomers, and Nazis.
“Meanwhile, you were just arrested for creating and distributing child pornography.”
And other users blasted Bell for “tarnishing” his work and his disturbing alleged crimes.
“Somebody needs to have a talk to their kids about perverts like you,” wrote another furious follower.
Bell will appear in court on Friday.
