The Washington Post has pulled out of publishing a $115,000 advertisement that called for the US President Donald Trump to fire Elon Musk. The advert was originally supposed to run on the full front and back page of The Washington Post on Tuesday, a report by The Hill said. The Post was supposed to run similar theme inside the paper as well. The report further said that the group was going to purchase the advert in collaboration with the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund.
The ad was to show a full size picture of Musk laughing with his head tilted back, next to an image of the White House. The Hill said that the ad also had white text running in big font that said: “Who’s running this country: Donald Trump or Elon Musk?”
Below the page, the ad also said “From the start, Elon has caused confusion and put our lives at risk. And he answers to no one but himself.” The paper, reportedly with the ‘Fire Elon Musk’ wrap, was to be delivered to the subscribers at the Pentagon, the White House, and the Congress.
According to The Independent, there was also a QR code at the bottom of the page the would redirect the readers to a link which said – ‘Fire.Musk.org’. It also showed the option of donating between $10 and $100 to help the organisation hold “power accountable.”
Common Cause President Virginia Kase Solomón told The Hill that it was a signed agreement and the advertisement did not raise any concerns before it was sent. She further added that no money was taken since the advert did not run in the paper.
Taking a strong stance, Solomon questioned if now the paper was concerned about Trump‘s reaction and wondered if it will only run things that “won’t anger the President or won’t have him calling Jeff Bezos asking why this was allowed?”
She informed that the artwork was submitted last week itself and they were told that it would run inside the paper, but not on the wrap. However, the paper did not explain to them why it decided not to run the advert.
The Common Cause president also said that the paper had sent an advert to them as an example from the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers which depicted a big image of Trump showing a thumbs up while paying homage to the promise of “ending the electric vehicle mandate on Day 1.” She said that the advert was a thank-you Trump piece of art.