A Washington Post cartoonist announced he quit the paper this week after he disapproved of a cartoon by Amazon founder and Post owner Jeff Bezos that referred to President-elect Trump.
Post-editorial cartoonist Ann Tillens wrote on it Substack page on Friday that she was resigning from the outlet, accusing the outlet of speeding up the cartoon because it was critical of the billionaire.
In the article, “Why I’m Leaving The Washington Post,” Tillens said, “I’ve had editorial feedback and productive conversations — and some disagreements — about the cartoons I’ve submitted for publication, but throughout that time I Never has a punch been struck because of who I’ve chosen to aim my pen at yet.”
The cartoonist shared a rough draft of the unpublished cartoon, which showed Bezos and other unspecified wealthy businessmen collecting and holding bags of money to the incoming president. Mickey Mouse was crouching on the floor with them, apparently representing Disney’s submission to Trump.
“The cartoon that got killed criticizes billionaire tech and media chief executives who are doing their best to support President-elect Trump,” Talens said in explaining his drawing.
Despite years of strained relations between the two, Bezos has expressed his support for Trump after his 2024 election victory. In the wake of Election Day, Amazon’s boss told reporters that he “Very optimistic“About Trump’s Regulatory Agenda.
Bezos recently pledged $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. He also dined with the incoming president at his Mar-a-Lago residence in December.
Tech billionaires, including Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, have supported Trump since his election victory. (Getty Images)
Bezos angered liberals, including postal workers, by deciding before the election that the paper Not making Presidential endorsement
Other prominent tech moguls have met with Trump in the months since his victory, including MetaPlatforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The Disney reference to Telnaes seems to be a dig at the company. As a factor Behind ABC News’ recent $15 million settlement with Trump earlier this month.
In his sub-stake piece, Talens continued to declare his belief that the Post suppressed the cartoon because of its political viewpoint. He wrote, “Obviously, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the approach inherent in the cartoon commentary. This is a game changer… And dangerous to a free press.”
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“As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing this important work. So I have decided to step down,” he added.
However, Washington Post editorial page editor David Shipley — who himself admitted to making the decision to speed it up — denied his allegation that The Post killed the cartoon for political reasons, and a recent statement I said he did it to avoid “repetition”. A story
He said, “Not every editorial decision reflects malice. My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the subject of the cartoon and had already set up another column — it was a satire.” “The publication was only against prejudice.”
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Telnaes has not yet responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Aubrey Speedy and Aislin Murphy contributed to this report.