Darrin Bell, the editorial cartoonist who won acclaim for his graphic memoir The Talk, was arrested last week and charged with possession of child pornography, the New York Times reports.
Bell, a Los Angeles native, began his career as an editorial cartoonist while a student at the University of California, Berkeley. He won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning—becoming the first Black artist to receive the award—and is the creator of the comic strips Candorville and Rudy Park.
In 2023, he published The Talk, which explored his experiences with racism as a young Black man in America. The graphic memoir was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence; Kirkus named it one of the best nonfiction books of the year.
Police in Sacramento County, California, searched Bell’s home last week. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said that it found more than 100 videos of child sex abuse material in his home. Some of the videos, the office said, were generated by artificial intelligence, which is illegal under a California law that took effect on Jan. 1.
Bell is currently being held at a jail in Sacramento County; his bail was set at $1 million. NBC News reports that a woman who said she was Bell’s wife, asked for comment via telephone, said, “Pray for me and my children.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
