Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes has announced her resignation from The Washington Post, citing an editorial decision to reject a cartoon featuring Post owner Jeff Bezos bowing to President-elect Donald Trump.
Telnaes, in a statement posted on Substack Friday night, said the Washington Post’s decision to pull her sketch was a “significant turning point” and warned that “trying to curry favor with an authoritarian who expects power” threatens the functioning of the free press.
The cartoon in question depicts a group of billionaire tech and media executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, bowing and offering sacks of cash on an imposing statue of Trump. Post owner Jeff Bezos is pictured among the adoring crowd.
“I’ve never had a sketch come back because of who or what I chose to target with my pen,” Telnaes wrote. “Until now.”
But Post opinion editor David Shipley said in a statement that while he respects Telnaes and “everything she has contributed to the Post,” he disagrees with her “construal of the facts.”
“Not every editorial decision is a reflection of a malevolent force,” Shipley said. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published an article on the same subject as the sketch and had already scheduled another article – this time a satire – for publication. The only bias was against repetition.”
Telnaes’ resignation is the latest sign of push back against the growing influence of billionaire CEOs trying to curry favor with the incoming president. Both the Post and the LA Times experienced waves of outrage from employees and readers alike when they separately announced they would not endorse a presidential candidate — less than two weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
Many then pointed the finger at Bezos and Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owners of the two papers, for interfering in the editorial decision.
Bezos, once an outspoken critic of Trump, has recently reached out to the president-elect, even dining with him and close adviser Elon Musk, another billionaire CEO, at Mar-a-Lago last month.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who has been a vocal critic of Musk and Trump’s relationship, shared Telnaes’ cartoon on X, writing: “Big tech execs are kneeling before Donald Trump, and it’s no surprise why : Billionaires like Jeff Bezos like to pay a lower tax rate than a public school teacher.”
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