A longtime editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post resigned from her position Friday after the newspaper rejected a cartoon that depicted tech and entertainment giants — including Post owner Jeff Bezos — kneeling before President-elect Donald Trump.
Ann Telnaes, who worked at the Post since 2008 and previously won a Pulitzer Prize for her work, revealed her decision to leave the newspaper Friday on Substack.
“I've worked for the Washington Post since 2008 as an editorial cartoonist. I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations—and some differences—about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Telnaes wrote . “Until now.”
Telnaes also shared a draft of the cartoon in question, which showed Mickey Mouse (representing Disney) as well as “Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook & Meta founder and CEO, Sam Altman/AI CEO, Patrick Soon-Shiong/LA Times publisher, and Jeff Bezos/Washington Post owner” bowing, kneeling and offering money bags to an oversized Trump.
“The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump,” Telnaes wrote.
“While it isn't uncommon for editorial page editors to object to visual metaphors within a cartoon if it strikes that editor as unclear or isn't correctly conveying the message intended by the cartoonist, such editorial criticism was not the case regarding this cartoon. To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon's commentary. That's a game changer…and dangerous for a free press.”
The Washington Post confirmed Telnaes' departure, but said in a statement to the New York Times that the cartoon was rejected not for content but due to “repetition,” as another cartoon tackling a similar subject was already set for publication.
“Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malignant force,” the Post's opinions editor David Shipley said. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column – this one a satire – for publication.” Shipley added that he asked Telnaes to reconsider her resignation.
In her Substack, Telnaes noted other controversies in recent years during the Bezos-owned era at the Washington Postincluding the newspaper's decision to not endorse a presidential candidate before November's election. The Post itself reported that its editorial leadership was prepared days ago to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump, but a last minute intervention by Bezos killed the planned endorsement.
“As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable,” Telnaes added. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post. I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I'm just a cartoonist. But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, 'Democracy dies in darkness.'”
