Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes has resigned from her position at The Washington Post after the newspaper rejected a cartoon depicting its owner, Jeff Bezos, genuflecting toward a statue of President-elect Donald J. Trump.
In a statement posted to Substack, Ms. Telnaes expressed her dissatisfaction with the decision, calling it “dangerous for a free press.” She included a draft of her cartoon in the post. The cartoon featured Bezos alongside other high-profile figures, including Meta’s founder Mark Zuckerberg and Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of The Los Angeles Times.
The Post’s opinions editor, David Shipley, defended the decision to kill the cartoon, stating that it was made due to a scheduling conflict with another column already published on the same topic. However, Ms. Telnaes did not accept this explanation and has chosen to resign from her position. The Post’s opinion page is widely respected for its critical perspectives on various topics.
Cartoonists Matt Wuerker and others have expressed their disapproval of the decision, calling it “spineless.”
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/business/media/washington-post-cartoonist-quits-after-jeff-bezos-cartoon-is-killed.html