Washington Post cartoonist resigns after rejection of “Billionaires trying to please Trump” drawing
Washington Post (WP) newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes announced her resignation after her drawing, in which several billionaires, including the newspaper’s owner Jeff Bezos, presented a “purse full of money” to the US president-elect Donald Trump, was rejected.
Telnaes announced on social media that he left his position at WP.
Stating that he has been working at WP since 2008, Telnaes stated that none of the cartoons he drew have ever been treated like this.
Telnaes said, “My rejected cartoon criticized the media and technology giant billionaires doing everything they could to curry favor with the elected president of the United States, Donald Trump.” he said.
Telnaes emphasizes that the cartoon includes WP owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, ABC News and The Walt Disney Company. He explained that there have been recent reports that these people are trying to “get into Trump’s good graces”.
Telnaes noted that changes had been requested in his drawings before, but this was the first time a cartoon had been rejected due to its content, and pointed out that this situation was dangerous for press freedom.
In the sketch by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Telnaes, kneeling billionaires are seen presenting bags full of money to the Trump statue, and Disney’s symbol Mickey Mouse is seen prostrating on the ground.
ABC News, owned by Disney, agreed to pay $15 million as a charitable donation to “a presidential foundation or museum to be established by or on behalf of the plaintiff” in the libel case against Trump.
There were reports in the US press in December 2024 that Bezos, Zuckerberg and Altman would donate approximately 1 million dollars to Trump’s handover events.