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In June 2018, longtime Pittsburgh Post-Gazette cartoonist Rob Rogers was fired after a number of his drawings were rejected by the paper. Shortly after the news broke, a tweet purportedly showing the cartoon that proved to be the final straw in Rogers' relationship with the paper went viral: The cartoon was created by Rob Rogers shortly before he lost his position at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but his firing was not based solely on this image but one of several anti-Trump cartoons that was rejected by the paper shortly before he was let go. Rogers' cartoons have regularly appeared in the newspaper since he was first hired in 1993. In 2018, however, he noticed that more of his cartoons were being killed after a new editorial director joined the paper: Several of the drawings the paper rejected were critical of the president and his policies, but others dealt with issues not specifically tied to the president. For instance, Rogers' cartoon mocking Roseanne Barr and her Ambien excuse for making racist remarks was also rejected. Rogers posted that cartoon, as well as many of his other spiked drawings, to his Twitter page: As Rogers' work was repeatedly rejected by the paper, he announced on 6 June 2018 that he was taking a vacation as the editorial issues with his paper were resolved: But Rogers never returned to his position. On 14 June 2018, he announced that he had been fired from his job: The following day he published an op-ed in the New York Times, saying that the political slant of his cartoons, which did not shy away from criticizing the Trump administration and its various policies, played a large role in his termination: Editorial director Keith Burris said that Rogers was fired because he was unwilling to collaborate on his cartoons: John Block — publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — was more blunt about the decision, saying that Rogers hasn't been funny in a long time: On 3 June 2018, Rogers posted this comic featuring President Trump:
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