An award-winning political cartoonist for The Washington Post has announced his resignation after a cartoon appeared to depict the newspaper’s billionaire owner lamenting Donald Trump before being rejected.
Ann Telnes posted on Substack late Friday night that it was the first time she “killed a cartoon because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at.”
The cartoon — which he included in his post — shows Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, as well as Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and other media and tech giants kneeling in front of a giant Trump and bags of money. Shown holding.
Also featured is a crouching Mickey Mouse, the symbol of the Disney Company, which owns ABC News. The television network recently reached a $15 million settlement with Trump after he sued him for defamation over reporting of his sexual abuse trial in New York.
Telnes wrote that while his previous sketches had been rejected, this was the first time that this had happened because of his “attitude”.
“This is a game changer … and dangerous for a free press,” he said.
The Washington Post, whose slogan is “Democracy dies in darkness,” said that Telnes’ work was not rejected because of any “malignant force.”
“We had published a column on a similar topic to the cartoon and already had another column – this one a satire – scheduled for publication,” editorial page editor David Shipley said in a statement. “The only prejudice was against repetition.”
The US media aggressively covered Trump’s chaotic first term, which included two impeachments and ended with his refusal to accept defeat in the 2020 election – ending with the storming of Congress by a mob of his supporters. .
As Trump prepares for his inauguration on January 20 after defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in November, there are signs that top CEOs are eager to build good relations, including in the media.
Many senior leaders, from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Bezos Zuckerberg, have reached Trump’s Florida property to meet him.
Elon Musk, owner of the influential social media platform X and the world’s richest person, is one of the President-elect’s closest advisors.
Amazon and Meta have both announced $1 million donations to Trump’s inaugural fund, as has Apple’s Cook, reportedly in a personal capacity.
Bezos caused a stir just before the presidential election when he broke years of tradition and ruled against a post endorsing a candidate.
Telnes, who has won a Pulitzer Prize and other awards for his work, had worked for the Post since 2008.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
