Editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes
Courtesy of Ann Telnaes
AND Washington Post Office cartoonist resigned from the newspaper, claiming that her bosses blocked the publication of a satirical cartoon depicting billionaires, including one resembling a post office owner Jeff Bezoskneeling before the President-elect Donald Trump.
Anna TelnaesThe Pulitzer Prize-winning illustrator wrote on her blog on Friday that: throw the newspaper after rejecting the drawing. It was the first time at the Post that a cartoon “was killed because of who or what I chose to point the pen at,” Telnaes wrote.
The comic sketch posted on the Telnaes Substack blog shows several men kneeling before a larger man dressed in a suit and long tie, representing Trump. Telnaes wrote that these are similarities Metaplatforms CEO Mark ZuckerbergOpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Los Angeles Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong and Bezos. Three men are holding bags of money. The set also includes a drawing of the cartoon character Mickey Mouse Walt DisneyABC News.
A satirical cartoon by Washington Post cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who resigned after being rejected.
Courtesy of Ann Telnaes
The drawing was rejected outright by the newspaper, with no suggestions for potential changes, Telnaes told CNBC in an email.
David Shipley, editor of the Washington Post's editorial page, said in a statement that the cartoon was rejected because of its similarity to the newspaper's column, not because of who it was aimed at.
“I respect Ann Telnaes and everything she has given to The Post. However, I have to disagree with her interpretation of events. Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of an evil force. “My decision was based on the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already planned to publish another column – this time of a satirical nature – the only objection was the lack of repetition,” Shipley's statement said.
The cartoonist's departure comes amid controversy over the way the media and corporate executives operate They treated Trumpboth before and after the November elections.
The Washington Post Office reported it Bezos got angry planned support of Trump's opponent Kamala Harris by the newspaper before the presidential elections. At the Los Angeles Times, Soon-Shiong also decided the newspaper should do so refrain from any support in the presidential race, which resulted in the resignation of several editorial board members.
Meanwhile, ABC News has settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump $15 millionwhich drew criticism from some media law experts who believed the news organization had a strong case.
Bezos and Zuckerberg, through Meta, planned to donate $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, the so-called This was reported last month by the Wall Street Journal.and was among several billionaires who have met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home since his election victory. Many outlets have reported that Altman OpenAI is also available donating $1 million for the inaugural fund.
senator Elizabeth WarrenD mass, weighed regarding Telnaes' resignation on X, stating that the cartoon is “worth sharing”: “Big Tech executives are bending the knee to Donald Trump, and it's no surprise why: billionaires like Jeff Bezos like to pay a lower tax rate than a public school teacher. “
Telnaes' departure is the latest of several internal upheavals at the Post. Publisher and CEO Will Lewis took over the paper last year and had a falling out with the editorial board as NPR reported. Several of the paper's top editors have left since Lewis took over.
Telnaes won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartoons in 2001. She wrote on her blog that she has been working for the Post since 2008.