Pittsburgh P-G cartoonist Rob Rogers fired after speaking out against anti-Trump cartoons being pulled

In a June 14 tweet, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Rob Rogers announced he had been fired.

Last week, Rogers had spoken publicly about the decision by the Post-Gazette editorial board to pull several of his recent cartoons. Many of them had criticized or satirized President Donald Trump, including Trump's immigration enforcement policies. 

"Sad to report this update: Today, after 25 years as the editorial cartoonist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was fired," tweeted Rogers.

Rogers spoke to City Paper last week and said he was upset the Post-Gazette editorial board was deciding to pull his cartoon submissions. He said it's a political cartoonist's job to criticize politicians who are in power.

“He is the president,” said Rogers. “He is the leader of the free world, and to ask a political cartoonist to either not cover him or go soft on him is incredible. ... I love my job. I love going to the drawing table and seeing what I can draw. And I love the readership. And I all want to do is keep doing my job. So let me do my job.”

Rogers had garnered national attention after sharing on social media that several of his submitted cartoons were not being published. CNN anchor (and fellow illustrator) Jake Tapper had Rogers on his show; Barbara Streisand also tweeted out support.

A political cartoonist is having his drawings sidelined for being critical of Trump. Are we ending satire and a critical sense of humor under this growing authoritarian rule? https://t.co/iAy7tRKZoZ

— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) June 7, 2018

This isn't the only news the Post-Gazette has made surrounding Trump. In January, the Post-Gazette ran an editorial defending Trump and his racist remarks about immigrants from African countries. This led to widespread condemnation and unionized P-G staffers publishing a letter to the editor denouncing the editorial. It was later revealed that new Post-Gazette editorial director Keith Burris wrote that editorial.

Burris did not immediately return calls requesting comment for this story.

But Rogers does have his supporters. Hundreds of people responded to Rogers' tweet, condemning the Post-Gazette's decision.

complete garbage move by Burris and JR Block, two people whose histories suggest that such decisions are par for the course.

— Chris Mueller (@ChrisMuellerPGH) June 14, 2018