Jeremy Talfer Nell is a South African cartoonist who writes under the pen nameJerm. He is frequently outspoken about mainstream scientific publications and consensus, claiming it is alarmist and political in nature - notable examples are his stated beliefs that climate change is not man-made, and Covid-19 is heavily exaggerated.
Nell became a cartoonist in November 2005, after being retrenched. Nell had no completed formal art training. Nell's first commercially published work, and nationally syndicated comic strip, Urban Trash, ended 27 June 2008. In 2010, Nell became the first political cartoonist for the newly launched The New Age, a pro-government daily newspaper. He was dismissed in 2012. In 2012, Nell became the first political cartoonist for Eyewitness News. That year he cited Zapiro and Quentin Blake as some of his favourite cartoonists. In 2013, Nell became the first political cartoonist for eNCA.com. In February 2014, Nell voiced his support for David Bullard when Bullard donated to a rape charity after being criticised for accusing rape survivor and activist Michelle Solomon of having faked her rape. In December 2014, Nell was forced to apologise for making a homophobic remark online. After receiving heavy criticism for a tweet regarding the trial of Shrien Dewani, during which the prosecution heard that Dewani was bisexual, Nell apologised and retracted his statement.He explained that he himself was pansexual and that Dewani’s crimes made the entire LGBTQ+ movement look bad. In January 2020, after Democratic Alliance chairperson Helen Zille shared a controversial racial cartoon created by Nell, Facebook closed Nell's public page, which had nearly 60,000 followers. Nell said he had previously violated the site's rules against hate speech. According to Mail & Guardian critic Christopher McMichael, Nell's political cartoons portray black politicians as "baying for white genocide" and reveal crypto-fascist ideas about racial intelligence.
Publishing and awards
Penguin Books have published two cartoon collections by Nell, Jerm Warfare and Comedy Club. Additionally some of his work features in the 2009 edition of the South African political cartooning annual Don't Joke: A Year in Cartoons, as well as in the 2010 edition, Just For Kicks. Nell won the national 2011 Vodacom Journalist of the Year Cartoon of the Year award for his cartoon Africa 2.0. The Mail & Guardian named Nell as one of their "Top 200 Young South Africans" in 2012. Nell was a finalist at the 2014 Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Awards.
