The cartoonist who drew Islam's Prophet Mohammad for the cover of the French satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine said he will no longer draw the prophet.
Cartoonist Renald Luzier, who is known professionally as "Luz," told a French magazine this week that drawing the Prophet Mohammad no longer interests him. He said he has tired of it, just as he previously tired of drawing former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Luzier was present at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris on January 7, when two Islamic radicals entered the building and fatally shot 12 people. In the magazine's first post attack issue, the cover featured a depiction of the Prophet Muhammad holding a sign with the slogan that became popular as people sought to show their support for the Charlie Hebdo journalists: "I am Charlie." The caption for the drawing read "All is Forgiven."
That issue of the magazine sold far more than its usual 60,000 copies, with the final print run topping out at eight million.
Luzier made the comments in the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles this week while promoting an upcoming book of cartoons he created in response to the shootings. The book is titled Catharsis.
Starting with the attacks on Charlie Hebdo January 7, the Islamic radicals responsible for the shootings began a three-day spree of violence in and around Paris that ended with 20 people dead. Earlier this week, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said publicly that the threat of terrorism in France has never been so high.
