The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has been awarded the Freedom of Expression Courage Award at the PEN American Center gala in New York City. The newspaper was honored months after the massacre at the paper’s offices in Paris, which the gunmen called revenge for cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Charlie Hebdo editor Gérard Biard accepted the award to a standing ovation.

Gérard Biard: “I perfectly understand that a believer can be shocked by a satirical cartoon about Muhammad, Jesus, Moses or even the pope. But growing up to be a citizen is to learn that some ideas, some words, some images can be shocking. Being shocked is a part of democratic debate. Being shot is not.”

The award to Charlie Hebdo sparked a major controversy among PEN members. Several prominent writers, including Michael Ondaatje, Teju Cole, and Rachel Kushner, pulled out of the gala in opposition to what they called Charlie Hebdo’s targeting of Muslims and other persecuted communities. Those writers and some 200 other PEN members also signed a letter of protest. Calling the massacre “sickening and tragic,” the letter says: ”PEN is not simply conveying support for freedom of expression but also valorizing selectively offensive material: material that intensifies the anti-Islamic, anti-Arab sentiments already prevalent in the Western world.” In response, Biard, the Charlie Hebdo editor, said: “We have always been anti-racist, and we fight against all discrimination.”