"How is this not insulting?", "Apologize for this please" - MLB fans fume over The New Yorker's Shohei Ohtani cover art

The upcoming edition of The New Yorker will feature Shohei Ohtani on the cover, but it's copped criticism even before its scheduled May 13 release.

The cover, which was prepared by Mark Ulriksen, features Ohtani hitting the baseball in the Dodgers away jersey. In his back pocket, there are stacks of dollars highlighted.

That irked many fans, who took it as an insulting jibe at the Japanese star.

"why the money in the pocket...how is this not insulting," one fan wrote.

"Apologize for this please. Ohtani is an icon," another wrote.

"What is this garbage ai picture? You clowns couldn't find a photo?" another quipped.

Others reacted with a cheeky reference to AI, with Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara being roped in as well.

"Ai art looking a**," one wrote.

"So he’s keeping his money in cash now so Ippei can’t password it no mores?" one wrote, referencing Mizuhara's gambling scandal.

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Shohei Ohtani had his first multi-homer game with the Dodgers

MLB: Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers

When the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani, they were waiting for the kind of performance the Japanese delivered on Sunday night against the Atlanta Braves.

Ohtani went 4-4, smashing two home runs, one of which went a distance of 464 feet and had an exit velocity of 110.6 mph, per Statcast. The distance covered was the longest among all the homers Ohtani has hit this season, trailing only his former teammate Mike Trout's 473-foot blast in the majors.

“He just keeps doing things that we haven’t seen before,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

“That’s deep. People don’t hit the ball out there (in left-center field). Whether you’re right-handed or left-handed, day game, night game. He really got into that one.”

His first homer came in the first inning against Max Fried, who was carrying a 15-inning scoreless streak coming into the game. Ohtani gave the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead en route to a 5-1 win.

With that, Ohtani improved his season average to a league-best .364, tied with a league-best 10 homers. He has driven in 25 runners. He's also staking his claim at the NL MVP honor, the race for which is led by his teammate Mookie Betts.