Washington Post cartoonist quits after Bezos satire is rejected

[Eugene]

Earlier DU thread: The Borowitz Report - Democracy Dies in Bezos

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Source: BBC

Washington Post cartoonist quits after Bezos satire is rejected

4 January 2025

Ana Faguy
BBC News, Washington

A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist has resigned from the Washington Post after the newspaper refused to publish a cartoon satirical of its billionaire owner Jeff Bezos.

Ann Telnaes, a long-time Washington Post cartoonist, created a cartoon of Mr Bezos and other tycoons kneeling before a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.

Ms Telnaes announced her resignation in a Substack post on Friday: "In all that time I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at. Until now."

David Shipley, the editorial page editor at the paper, said he decided not to run the cartoon in order to avoid repetition, not because it mocked the paper's owner.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4xk4y2emro

[Metaphorical]

1. Uh huh

I undertand The Atlantic is picking up a lot of disgruntled or fired WaPo journalists.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. The Borowitz Report - Democracy Dies in Bezos

I agree with Andy Borowitz. Bezos and the Washington Post have sold out on defending democracy
https://bsky.app/profile/sharyn420.bsky.social/post/3lewl5tndok2a

Link to tweet

https://www.borowitzreport.com/p/democracy-dies-in-bezos

Ann Telnaes, Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for the Washington Post since 2008, quit the paper this week after her editor killed her cartoon depicting WaPo owner Jeff Bezos and other craven billionaires debasing themselves before Donald J. Trump.

This act of censorship, of course, isn’t an outlier: anticipatory obedience to fascism has risen ominously in recent months. It began with WaPo and the Los Angeles Times spiking endorsements of Kamala Harris, only to be outdone by Disney, who gifted Trump $15 million instead of fighting his flimsy defamation claim in court. Oh, and let’s not forget Joe and Mika’s humiliating field trip to Mar-a-Lago.

I don’t know Ms. Telnaes but I admire her work, integrity, and courage. I’m publishing the rough draft of her cartoon above in the hopes that you’ll share it. If enough people do, it will reach a larger audience than if her WaPo editor had had the cojones to run it. Actually, given how many subscribers have fled the paper in recent months, reaching a larger audience than the Washington Post isn’t a daunting task.

Love,
Andy