Who is Ann Telnaes? Cartoonist releases statement after quitting over Trump satire sketch

Washington Post editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes announced that she was quitting the newspaper on January 3, 2025 via her Substack. Telnaes reportedly quit the newspaper after her cartoon depicting the paper's owner Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bended on his knee for President-elect Donald Trump was rejected.

In her statement posted on Substack, the cartoonist wrote:

“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.”

According to Telnaes' official website, she created editorial cartoons for multiple mediums like visual essays, live sketches, animation, and traditional print for The Washington Post. Ann Telnaes attended the California Institute of the Arts for a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in character animation.

Before working as an editorial cartoonist, she worked as a designer for Walt Disney Imagineering for several years and has also worked for studios in New York, London, Taiwan, and Los Angeles. Telnaes won the Pulitzer Prize for her print cartoons in 2001 and the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist in 2016.

Additionally, Telnaes was awarded the international EWK Award in 2021 and the Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning in 2023. She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist for cartooning and illustrated reporting in 2022.

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"That’s a game changer": Ann Telnaes connects her cartoon's rejection to being dangerous for free press

In her statement posted on her Substack account, Ann Telnaes mentioned that she worked for the Washington Post as an editorial cartoonist since 2008. She mentioned that while she has received editorial feedback for the cartoons she has submitted for publication, she never "had a cartoon killed" because of who or what she chose to convert into cartoons until the recent instance of her cartoon being rejected.

Without taking names, Telnaes mentioned that her cartoon was rejected as it criticized "the billionaire tech and media chief executives" who are trying their best to garner favors from Donald Trump.

The cartoonist also mentioned that the group in her cartoon featured Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, LA Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong, AI CEO Sam Altman, ABC News, the Walt Disney Company, and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos.

Ann's rough copy of the cartoon (Image via Substack/ @Ann Telnaes)

Attaching an image of the rough idea of her rejected cartoon, Ann Telnaes stated that it wasn't uncommon for editorial page editors to object to metaphors in a cartoon if the reference isn't clear or the message intended by the cartoonist isn't correctly conveyed. However, such editorial feedback wasn't the case with her cartoon featuring Jeff Bezos.

Linking her cartoon's rejection to the threat to free press, Ann Telnaes said:

"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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Concluding her statement, Telnaes cited "Democracy dies in darkness", the official slogan of The Washington Post. She said that it was for the first time that her editor censored her and as a result, she was leaving the Washington Post.

The cartoonist added that she doubts if her decision will cause much of a stir and that it would be set aside because she is a cartoonist, but that won't stop her from showcasing the truth via her cartooning.