Washington Post cartoonist resigns after Trump rejects Bezos, other billionaires in drawing.

• On Friday, in a blog post, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes announced that she had left the Washington Post following the rejection of a drawing.
• Telnaes wrote that for the first time at the paper, a cartoon was "eliminated due to the subject or object I targeted with my pen."
• The cartoon was rejected due to its resemblance to columns at the paper, not due to its target, as stated by David Shipley, Washington Post editorial page editor.

A Washington Post cartoonist has resigned from her job after her bosses refused to publish a satirical cartoon depicting billionaires, including one resembling Post owner Jeff Bezos, kneeling before President-elect Donald Trump.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, Ann Telnaes, announced in a blog post on Friday that she left the paper following the rejection of a drawing. This was the first time at the Post that a cartoon was rejected due to the subject or person being targeted with the pen.

A sketch of a cartoon, published on Telnaes' Substack blog, depicts several men prostrating themselves before a man in a suit and tie, symbolizing Trump. Telnaes stated that the likenesses are of CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Los Angeles Times Publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong, and Bezos. Three of the men are clutching bags of money. Additionally, a drawing of Mickey Mouse, representing 's ABC News, is included in the cartoon.

Telnaes informed CNBC via email that the paper rejected the drawing without offering any suggestions for modifications.

The cartoon was rejected due to its resemblance to columns at the paper, not due to its target, as stated by David Shipley, Washington Post editorial page editor.

While I respect Ann Telnaes and her contributions to The Post, I must disagree with her interpretation of events. Not all editorial judgments are indicative of a malicious force. My decision was influenced by the fact that we had already published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had scheduled another satirical column for publication. The only bias was against repetition, as stated by Shipley.

The controversy surrounding the treatment of Trump by media and corporate executives continues as the cartoonist departs.

The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times both made decisions to withhold endorsements for Trump opponents Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, respectively, ahead of the presidential election.

ABC News settled a defamation lawsuit with Trump for $15 million, despite criticism from some media law experts who believed the news organization had a strong case.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bezos and Zuckerberg, through Meta, planned to donate $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, and have been among several billionaires to meet with Trump at his home in Mar-a-Lago since his election win. Additionally, OpenAI's Altman is also donating $1 million to the inauguration fund.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., commented on Telnaes' resignation regarding X, stating that the cartoon was "worth a share": "Big Tech executives are kowtowing to Donald Trump and it's unsurprising: Billionaires such as Jeff Bezos enjoy paying a lower tax rate than a public school teacher."

Since Will Lewis became publisher and CEO of the Post last year, there have been several internal shakeups, including the departure of Telnaes, who has clashed with the newsroom, as reported by NPR.

In 2001, Telnaes won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning while working for The Washington Post. She later wrote in her blog that she had been with the paper since 2008.