ATLANTA -- The publishing company that owns the rights to Curious George is considering legal action to stop the sale of T-shirts that show presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. as the cartoon monkey.

Representatives of Houghton Mifflin said Wednesday they have not authorized the use of the image by Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman. He is selling the shirts that feature Curious George peeling a banana with the words "Obama '08" at his Mulligan's Tavern.

"We find it offensive and obviously utterly out of keeping with the value Curious George represents," Houghton Mifflin spokesman Rick Blake told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We're monitoring the situation and weighing our options with respect to legal action."

Norman said he got the shirts from someone in Alabama and he insists they aren't racist.

"This is 2008. If this was 1940-something, maybe. I don't see the big deal, I really don't," Norman told Channel 2.

But many people do think it's a big deal. Critics say the shirts are an offensive stereotype from generations past.

"GALEO condemns the t-shirt as racist and highly offensive. As a private business, Mulligan's is free to conduct business as it chooses. However, as a community, we must unite against such intolerance. The t-shirt being sold is highly offensive and should not be sold any further," said Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director for the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials in a statement.

The Anti-Defamation League also condemned the T-shirt being sold, saying it's, "An outrageous slur against Barack Obama and all African Americans."

"Mike Norman - the bar's owner - pretends he is shocked that people would be offended by the T-shirt," said Bill Nigut, ADL's Southeast Regional Director. "But he knows full well that the characterization of African Americans as monkeys is a highly offensive stereotype. Every time he sells one of the shirts he is happily sending a racist message out the door."

Channel 2's Manuel Bojorquez asked Norman why he chose Curious George. "I thought, man, look at those ears and his hair line and that's what I saw. I didn't see anything offensive," Norman said. He said he was not a racist.

Norman added the money from the sale of the shirts was being donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

"It's their right to protest my right to have that to say," Norman said. "I've had a lot of threatening calls. It's just a lot of stupidity."