De Morgen, a Belgian newspaper, apologized Monday after it was accused of being racist for running a picture portraying President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama as apes.
The image ran in Saturday’s satirical section, Talking Points Memo reports.
The image was presented as if Russian President Vladimir Putin had submitted it.
“When you consider the fragment apart from its context, which is a properly worked out satirical section, then you don’t see the joke but just a picture evoking sheer racism,” the newspaper wrote in its statement. “That was a risk we didn’t consider enough beforehand. … In this case, we plead guilty of bad taste.”
