Why Washington Post cartoonist QUIT over this risky drawing that the paper rejected

A Washington Post cartoonist has quit after an editor at the paper refused to run a sketch of paper owner Jeff Bezos bowing to Donald Trump.

Ann Telnaes said Friday she drew a cartoon showing a group of media executives - and Mickey Mouse, representing Disney - bowing before Trump while offering him bags of money, including Post owner and Amazon founder Bezos.

She said she wrote that the cartoon was intended to criticize 'billionaire tech and media chief executives who have been doing their best to curry favor with incoming President-elect Trump.' 

Several executives, Bezos among them, have been spotted at Trump´s Florida club Mar-a-Lago. Bezos has also donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural and agreed to stream it on Amazon Prime, while also saying he was optimistic about the second Trump term.

Telnaes accused them of having lucrative government contracts and working to eliminate regulations.

She said that she's never before had a cartoon rejected because of its inherent messaging and that such a move is dangerous for a free press.

'As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable,' Telnaes wrote on her Substack. 

'For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post.'

She was skeptical that anyone would care much about her departure but hoped to raise awareness.  

'I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I'm just a cartoonist,' she continued. 

'But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say `Democracy dies in darkness.´'

The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists issued a statement Saturday accusing the Post of 'political cowardice' and asking other cartoonists to post Telnaes' sketch with the hashtag #StandWithAnn in a show of solidarity.

'Tyranny ends at pen point,' the association said. 'It thrives in the dark, and the Washington Post simply closed its eyes and gave in like a punch-drunk boxer.'

The Post's communications director, Liza Pluto, provided The Associated Press on Saturday with a statement from David Shipley, the newspaper's editorial page editor. 

Shipley said in the statement that he disagrees with Telnaes' 'interpretation of events.'

He said he decided to nix the cartoon because the paper had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and was set to publish another.

'Not every editorial judgement is a reflection of a malign force. ... The only bias was against repetition,' Shipley said.

While the Amazon founder was often seen as antagonistic toward Trump during his first go around in the White House, Bezos in December expressed some excitement about the Trump agenda in the coming years. 

Bezos also promised to 'save' The Washington Post, which he owns, following fierce backlash and a precipitous drop in readership after his bombshell October decision to prohibit the paper from endorsing a presidential candidate. 

Amazon will be donating $1 million to the 78-year-old president-elect's inauguration and making another in-kind contribution by streaming the inauguration on Amazon Prime. 

Bezos is one of several billionaire tech company and business leaders that are shelling out big donations to the Trump inauguration ahead of the Republican taking over the White House on January 20. 

Just before Christmas, Bezos was spotted strolling into Mar-a-Lago Wednesday evening to enjoy a dinner with President-elect Donald Trump. 

The Amazon founder arrived at the Florida mansion with his fiancee Lauren Sanchez for their first meal with Trump after his recent election win. 

Footage shared on social platform X shows the couple holding hands and walking alongside Trump as they greet other guests. 

The tech mogul wore a navy blue suit and white shirt, while his partner Sanchez put on a leggy display in a little black dress and stiletto heels. 

Bezos is one of the latest tech giants who has rubbed shoulders with Trump ahead of his presidential inauguration on January 20, 2025. 

Its a stark change from the first term of Trump, where Bezos was been more of a thorn in the president's side. 

When Trump first ran for president, he began to threaten that Amazon and Jeff Bezos would pay a price for any anti-Trump bias. 

'If I become president — oh, do they have problems. They're going to have such problems,' he warned. 

Trump was particularly aggrieved at Bezos's ownership of the iconic Washington Post.

He would rage at what he called the 'Amazon Washington Post,' claiming spuriously that it had avoided 'internet taxes.' 

During his time in office Trump became 'obsessed' with retribution against Bezos for the Post's negative coverage of him.

'Every hour, we're getting calls from reporters from the Washington Post asking ridiculous questions,' he ranted in once instance. 'And I will tell you: This is owned as a toy by Jeff Bezos, who controls Amazon. Amazon is getting away with murder, taxwise. He's using the Washington Post for power.'

During the Trump administration, Amazon sued the government after alleging it had blocked a $10 billion cloud-computing-services contract with the Pentagon over the then-president's ire about coverage in the Post. 

The Biden administration later pursued a contract with both Amazon and Microsoft.

Throughout the Trump presidency, Bezos resolutely supported the staff's coverage and he has not interfered with reporting on his own business interests or personal life.