Analysis of Ann Telnaes' published cartoons

Cartoonist Ann Telnaes Quits Washington Post Over Spiked Bezos-Trump Cartoon Depicting Billionaires Kneeling

Jan 4, 2025, 09:34 PM

Ann Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist at The Washington Post since 2008, has resigned after the newspaper refused to publish her cartoon depicting the Post's owner, Jeff Bezos, and other tech billionaires, including Mark Zuckerberg, kneeling before President-elect Donald Trump and offering bags of money. The cartoon was intended to satirize the efforts of these executives to curry favor with the incoming administration. Telnaes stated that this was the first time in her career that a cartoon was killed because of its target and criticized the decision as undermining the free press. She shared the cartoon on her Substack blog 'Open Windows,' stating, 'I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, "Democracy dies in darkness."' The Washington Post's opinions editor, David Shipley, reportedly urged her to reconsider her resignation, but she declined.