Cartoonist Nick Bougas, Creator of Antisemitic ‘Happy Merchant’ Image, Dies at 71
He was not on the list.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (VINnews) — Nick Bougas, an American cartoonist and filmmaker who produced racist and antisemitic illustrations under the pen name A. Wyatt Mann, has died. He was 71.
Bougas, born in Savannah, Georgia, gained notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s for cartoons published in white supremacist outlets. His most widely circulated work was the “Happy Merchant,” a caricature depicting a Jewish man with exaggerated facial features, a beard and a rubbing-hands pose associated with greed. The image later became one of the most frequently used antisemitic memes on the internet.
Associates confirmed Bougas’ authorship of the cartoons, though he never publicly acknowledged creating them. The Anti-Defamation League and other groups have described the Happy Merchant as a staple hate symbol that spread across imageboards and social media platforms.
Beyond illustration, Bougas directed cult documentaries including the “Death Scenes” series, hosted by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, and the 1993 profile “Speak of the Devil.” He also contributed artwork to underground magazines, collected true-crime memorabilia and compiled celebrity audio outtakes during years spent in Hollywood.
In 1988, he was a contributing editor and artist to the pro-Charles Manson book The Manson File. Bougas directed several other films, such as the 1994 documentary The Goddess Bunny about disabled transgender tap dancing artist Sandie Crisp. In 1998, Bougas released the album Celebrities... At Their Worst!, a collection of comedic audio blunders by such celebrities as Elvis Presley, Casey Kasem, Paul Anka, and John Wayne. As an illustrator, Bougas worked with writer and publisher Jim Goad on such publications as Answer Me!
Bougas used the pseudonym "A. Wyatt Mann" (phonetically: 'a white man') to produce overtly racist and antisemitic cartoons in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They were first published in the white supremacist newspaper WAR, operated by Tom Metzger.
Besides black people and Jews, his cartoons occasionally targeted other minorities and groups, including gay people and feminists. Bougas being the person behind the pseudonym was suspected, though this was not confirmed for many years. Another suspect was the white supremacist and WAR managing editor Wyatt Kaldenberg. Kaldenberg denied this, saying he had "never drawn a cartoon in [his] life", and that it was "Nick Bogus [sic]". Bougas never publicly confirmed his authorship; however, his identity as Mann was confirmed in 2015 by multiple people who worked with him at the time, and in captions of photos taken at various events.
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