Editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes
Photo courtesy of Ann Telnaes
Ann Telnaes, a cartoonist for The Washington Post, has resigned after her satirical cartoon was rejected. The cartoon depicted billionaires, including one resembling the Post’s owner Jeff Bezos, kneeling before President-elect Donald Trump.
In a blog post released on Friday, Telnaes stated that this was the first occasion at the Post where a cartoon was “killed due to the subject I chose to illustrate.” This was following the rejection of a specific drawing by her editorial team.
A rough draft of the cartoon, which Telnaes shared on her Substack blog, featured several men kneeling before a larger figure dressed in a suit with a long tie, symbolizing Trump. According to Telnaes, the individuals depicted were meant to represent Meta Platforms‘ CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Los Angeles Times Publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong, and Bezos himself. Among them, three held bags of money. The drawing also included a representation of cartoon character Mickey Mouse, signifying Walt Disney‘s ABC News.
Illustration by Ann Telnaes, who resigned from The Washington Post after the cartoon was turned down.
Photo courtesy of Ann Telnaes
Telnaes indicated that the rejection was absolute, offering no possibilities for revisions. In a communication to CNBC, she expressed disappointment about the decision.
In response, David Shipley, the editorial page editor at The Washington Post, clarified that the cartoon was disallowed due to its overlap with recently published columns, not because of its target. He emphasized, “I hold Ann Telnaes in high regard and respect her contributions to The Post. However, I must contest her interpretation of this situation. Not every editorial choice derives from ill intent. My decision was strictly based on the fact that we had already published a piece on the same theme and had scheduled another satirical column for release. The bias here was merely against redundancy,” he stated.
The resignation occurs against the backdrop of ongoing discussions regarding how media and corporate leaders have handled Trump pre- and post-election.
The Washington Post previously reported that Bezos had blocked an endorsement for Trump rival Kamala Harris in the lead-up to the election. Similarly, Soon-Shiong at the Los Angeles Times opted against endorsing any presidential candidate, which led to the resignation of several editorial board members.
ABC News faced its own controversy, settling a $15 million defamation lawsuit with Trump, a decision that drew scrutiny from media law experts who believed the network had a solid case.
Recently, it was reported that Bezos and Zuckerberg planned to contribute $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund and have met with him at his Mar-a-Lago residence following the election. Reports also indicated that Altman from OpenAI is also contributing a $1 million donation towards the inauguration.
Senator Elizabeth Warren commented on Telnaes’s resignation via X, stating the cartoon was “worth sharing”: “Big Tech leaders are kneeling to Donald Trump, and it’s not surprising, as billionaires like Jeff Bezos prefer a lower tax burden than public school teachers.”
Telnaes’s resignation marks another significant staff change at The Post, which has undergone various internal shifts since Will Lewis took over as publisher and CEO last year, leading to tensions with the newsroom and the departure of several senior editors.
Telnaes, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 2001, disclosed in her blog that she had been with The Washington Post since 2008.
