German cartoonist regrets Zuckerberg caricature

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

BERLIN (AP) - A German cartoonist has apologized for causing offense by depicting Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as a hooked-nose octopus.

The cartoon published Friday in an early edition of Munich daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung prompted complaints of anti-Semitism from Jewish groups.

Later editions showed an empty hole where Zuckerberg's face had been.

Cartoonist Burkhard Mohr says he had intended to make a point about Facebook devouring rival WhatsApp and didn't realize the caricature resembled the kind of incitement to anti-Semitism printed by the Nazis.

Mohr told The Associated Press that he deeply regrets "this misunderstanding and any readers' feelings I may have hurt."

Facebook didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.