Cartoonist quits the Washington Post after paper rejects her cartoon

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes announced on Substack that she quit the Washington Post, stating that the paper blocked her cartoon that depicted billionaires, including Post owner Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong and Mickey Mouse (to symbolize Disney-owned ABC News), bowing to a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

Telnaes said it was the first time at the Post that a cartoon was “killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at.”

The Post editor, David Shipley, stated the rejection was due to similar columns being published recently.

The controversy highlights media and corporate executives’ growing coziness with Trump. Bezos, Zuckerberg and Altman have pledged $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund. 

Meanwhile, ABC News recently settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump for $15 million, sparking criticism.

Telnaes joined the Post in 2008.