The Washington Post removed an editorial cartoon depicting Ted Cruz’s daughters as monkeys from its website Tuesday after the GOP presidential candidate lashed out at the paper.
“Classy. @washingtonpost makes fun of my girls. Stick w/ attacking me–Caroline & Catherine are out of your league,” Cruz tweeted.
The cartoon, featuring the Texas senator as an organ grinder in a Santa Claus hat and his two daughters as monkeys, was removed from the paper’s site and the editorial editor issued a statement.
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“It’s generally been the policy of our editorial section to leave children out of it,” editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said in the statement. “I failed to look at this cartoon before it was published. I understand why Ann thought an exception to the policy was warranted in this case, but I do not agree.”
The cartoonist, Ann Telnaes defended her work, saying that Cruz’s 5- and 7-year-old daughters were “fair game” after being featured in a Christmas parody ad released by the senator’s campaign.
The tongue-in-cheek ad featured Cruz and his wife Heidi reading fake Christmas books to their daughters with titles including “How ObamaCare Stole Christmas” and “Auditing St. Nick.”
“Ted Cruz has put his children in a political ad- don’t start screaming when editorial cartoonists draw them as well,” Telnaes wrote.
Even Cruz’s GOP rivals jumped to his defense.
“Wash Post cartoon featuring @tedcruz’s children is disgusting. The Post saying the kids are “fair game” is even worse,” fellow Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter.
