Washington Post cartoonist quits after Bezos satire is rejected
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Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, resigned from The Washington Post after the newspaper refused to publish one of her cartoons satirizing the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos. Telnaes, who had worked at The Post since 2008, created a cartoon that depicted Bezos and other tech moguls kneeling before a statue of President-elect Donald Trump, offering bags of cash. The cartoon was a pointed commentary on the relationships between wealthy executives and political power, particularly regarding lucrative government contracts and efforts to dismantle regulations.
Telnaes expressed her frustration in a Substack post, describing the newspaper’s refusal to run her cartoon as a “game changer.” She characterized the decision as a serious threat to a free press. “In all that time, I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” she wrote, adding that this was the first time she had encountered such censorship. Telnaes felt that her cartoon was a fair critique of powerful figures like Bezos, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who she said had been attempting to win favor with the incoming Trump administration.
However, David Shipley, the editorial page editor at The Post, explained the decision not to run the cartoon by stating that it was due to “repetition” rather than any attempt to shield Bezos from criticism. Shipley clarified that the cartoon was not rejected because of its content but because The Post had already published a piece addressing the same subject matter and was planning another satirical piece on the same topic. Shipley emphasized that not every editorial decision should be interpreted as an attack on the integrity of the press. “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” Shipley stated.
Telnaes disagreed with this explanation, insisting that the rejection was a direct consequence of the cartoon’s mockery of Bezos and other powerful figures. In the cartoon, the kneeling figures—Bezos, Zuckerberg, Altman, and even Mickey Mouse—are depicted in subjugation before the statue of Trump, who stands triumphant. The inclusion of Mickey Mouse, a reference to ABC News and its parent company Disney, subtly alluded to a recent legal settlement where ABC agreed to pay $15 million to resolve a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump.
Telnaes also highlighted that this wasn’t the first time her work had been censored by The Post. In 2015, the newspaper retracted a controversial cartoon she created that depicted the young daughters of Senator Ted Cruz as monkeys. The paper explained at the time that its editorial policy forbade the depiction of children in such a manner.
The rejection of Telnaes’ cartoon comes amid heightened scrutiny of Bezos’s relationship with Trump. Just a month earlier, Bezos announced that Amazon would donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund and make an additional $1 million in-kind contribution. Bezos also praised Trump’s political comeback after his re-election victory, further complicating his image among liberal readers.
This incident has added to the ongoing tension between The Post and its readership. Weeks before the November 2024 presidential election, The Post faced backlash after Bezos intervened to prevent the newspaper’s editorial board from endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. The controversy over the endorsement led to a loss of over 250,000 subscribers. Similar pressures have been felt at other media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, whose owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, was also depicted in the controversial cartoon. The Los Angeles Times also faced internal debates about endorsements in the election, notably choosing not to publicly endorse Harris.
Telnaes’s resignation underscores the broader challenges that media organizations face when balancing their editorial independence with the financial interests of their owners. For Telnaes, the rejection of her cartoon signified a deeper concern about the role of powerful individuals like Bezos in shaping the editorial content of major news outlets. As the media landscape continues to evolve, the tension between corporate influence and journalistic integrity is likely to remain a key issue for both journalists and readers alike.
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