About 100 protesters gathered outside News Corporation's headquarters in Midtown Manhattan Friday, calling for an advertising boycott of the New York Post over the paper's publishing a controversial political cartoon this week.

The New York Post issued an apology in today's paper to some readers offended by this week's controversial political cartoon, but it is not stopping some opponents from boycotting the paper.

In an editorial in today's paper, The Post apologized to readers who were offended by the image, which showed two police officers standing over a chimpanzee's body. One of the officer says, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Critics have called the cartoon racist, saying it compares President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee.

The Post writes that the cartoon, "was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill. Period."

The editorial goes on to say, "However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past -- and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback. To them, no apology is due. Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else."

On Friday evening, the protesters in Midtown Manhattan included filmmaker Spike Lee, Judge and PUSH/Excel Board Chairman Greg Mathis and President Ben Jealous of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“New York City is the greatest city on this earth, the most diverse city,” said Lee. “And that cartoon is an insult to everybody, not just black folks. That cartoon is an insult to everybody. We’re here to let them know about it.”

Lee also said that the Post had printed similarly insulting material in the past.

Mathis said that Post employees need more sensitivity training and that the newspaper's parent company, News Corporation, should be held responsible for the paper's editorial content.

"As a judge, I can tell you in many instances, parents are responsible for the actions of their children," he said.

Mathis also asked that banks that feature ads in the Post should pull their advertisements, or protesters will remove their accounts from those banks.

Protesters noted that they wanted banks receiving bailout money to comply with their demands.

"We're gonna start with those companies that get bailout money, because they're taking tax dollars. We won't subsidize being insulted," said the Reverend Al Sharpton.

Jealous said that they would put pressure of Fox-affliated stations, which are owned by News Corporation, if the Post's editor-in-chief was not fired by next week.

Organizers said they sent an online petition to more than 400,000 people.

Earlier Friday, protesters gathered with local lawmakers in East New York, Brooklyn in the latest of several rallies against the Post.

"This apology is late in coming and disingenuous," said City Councilman Charles Barron. "Nobody is being fooled by this. We are shutting this racist rag sheet down."

"We are out here to say this is not acceptable," said protester Joy Nayo Simmons. "You've hurt people continuously over the years and now and its time for us to take a stand and say we're not tolerating this any longer."

Vendors selling papers near the protest said Post sales were down significantly today.