The pearl-clutching sensibilities of Apple

Also via Bors:

MAD Magazine artist Tom Richmond has been working on an iPhone app with movie director/entrepreneur Ray Griggs that allows users to search a database for contact information of every congressman. Tom did 540 caricatures – one for every representative in union and territories – for the app. Unfortunately, they have learned that Apple has rejected the app based due to “content that ridicules public figures.”

Full story here. I’ve looked into the possibility of a TMW iPhone app, but this is one stumbling block I didn’t anticipate: that the gatekeepers in Cupertino would be sent to their fainting couches by — heavens! — the very thought of political satire. And this wasn’t exactly hard-hitting content, as the artist himself acknowledges:

These caricatures aren’t mean or very exaggerated. They are simple, fun cartoon likenesses of the politicians and the purpose of the app is a informational database. There is no editorial commentary involved at all.

Doesn’t bode well for the likes of me or Bors or Rall, which is unfortunate, given the iPhone’s market dominance.