Washington Post cartoonist quits after paper pulls her cartoon depicting Post owner Bezos groveling to Trump

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A Washington Post cartoonist announced that she had quit the paper this week because it rejected her cartoon of Amazon founder and Post owner Jeff Bezos groveling to President-elect Trump.

Post editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes wrote on her Substack page Friday that she was resigning from the outlet, accusing it of spiking the cartoon because it was critical of the billionaire.

In the article, "Why I'm Quitting the Washington Post," Telnaes said, "I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations-and some differences-about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but 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."

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The cartoonist shared a rough draft of the unpublished cartoon, which depicted Bezos and other unspecified wealthy businessmen genuflecting and holding up bags of money to the incoming president. Prostrating on the floor next to them was Mickey Mouse, apparently a representation of Disney's supposed subservience to Trump.

Telnaes explained her drawing, stating, "The cartoon that was killed criticizes the billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump."

Despite a prickly relationship between the two over the years, Bezos has expressed support for Trump following his 2024 election victory. In the wake of Election Day, the Amazon owner told reporters he was "very optimistic" about Trump's regulatory agenda.

Bezos recently pledged to donate $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund. He also had dinner with the incoming president at his Mar-a-Lago residence in December. 

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Bezos also made liberals, including Post staff, irate just ahead of the election by making the decision that the paper would not be making a presidential endorsement.

Other prominent tech moguls have met with Trump in the months following his win, including Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Telnaes' Disney reference appears to be a dig at the company being cited as a factor behind ABC News' recent $15 million settlement with Trump earlier this month. 

In her Substack piece, Telnaes continued to proclaim her belief that the Post squashed the cartoon because of its political point. She wrote, "To be clear, there have been instances where sketches have been rejected or revisions requested, but never because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon's commentary. That's a game changer…and dangerous for 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 that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post," she added. 

However, The Washington Post Editorial Page editor David Shipley - who admitted to making the decision to spike it himself - denied her accusation that The Post killed the cartoon for political reasons, saying in a recent statement that he did it to avoid "repetition" of a story.

He said, "Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force. My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column - this one a satire - for publication. The only bias was against repetition."

Telnaes has not yet responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady and Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.