Seasoned Washington Post cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize winner Ann Telnaes resigned Friday after her latest cartoon, which showed media and tech executives, including paper owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, bowing to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, was rejected by her editor.
On Substack, Telnaes shared a draft sketch of the cartoon, saying: "As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job."
"Democracy dies in darkness," she added, quoting the Post’s motto, which has been shown on its front page since February 2017, soon after Trump started his first term in office.
The rejected cartoon criticized billionaires, including Bezos, for seeking government contracts and deregulation by aligning with Trump.
Recent reports have shown Bezos and other media executives meeting Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, raising concerns about their closeness to power.
David Shipley, the Post’s editorial page editor, defended the decision, citing concerns over "repetition" due to the publication of opinion pieces along the same lines.
On Saturday, the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists condemned the rejection as "political cowardice” and urged cartoonists to circulate Telnaes’ sketch using the hashtag #StandWithAnn.
"Tyranny ends at pen point. It thrives in the dark, and the Washington Post closed its eyes and gave in like a punch-drunk boxer," the group said in its statement.
The Washington Post has not issued further comment on the matter.
