On Wednesday I shared the sad news that Andy Donato had passed away at the age of 89. Until very recently, Andy was still getting published in The Toronto Sun, a Postmedia-owned newspaper.
I attached to that article his final editorial cartoon, a "That's all folks" farewell after 55 years.
I have subsequently heard from his cousin Phil Nero who tells me Andy Donato submitted a cartoon that was rejected by the Toronto Sun's publishers, and that's why Andy submitted the "That's all folks" comic as a resignation. Here's the story in Phil's own words.
The gist of the story and the cartoon is simple. Andy and I last spoke on Sept. 8, a few days after he had submitted a drawing to be published on Sept. 6. It depicted Donald Trump with the signature little bird looking on. Trump had pulled the pin on a hand grenade and was throwing it. Andy described the cartoon as one of the best he had drawn in years.
The hook: Trump clenched the body of the grenade in his mouth while throwing the pin.
For reasons known only to the Sun, they had been on Andy’s case about drawing too many Trump cartoons. Andy and I had several conversations over the past year or so about censorship and his frustration about how his voice was being stifled. This time, according to Andy, there was some excuse that the image implied too much violence. After some debate, he was told to submit another. It was for him the straw that broke the cartoonist’s back. Frustrated, he submitted the “That’s All Folks” cartoon, which the Sun ran, with some delay, in announcing his “retirement.”
I couldn’t imagine Andy walking around with cartoon ideas bottled up inside him. I ironically joked, “Well, if this doesn’t kill you, at least you’ll have more time to play golf.” He was doing exactly that on the day he died.
Andy and his artist wife Diane Jackson live on the north side of Kingston Road opposite the Hunt Club where Andy played most of his golf. On days he played Diane would sometimes look out their window and try to catch him putting on the 6th green. She did just that on Sept. 15. But what she saw was a rescue ambulance racing across the golf course to the 4th hole tee box. “Please God, don’t let it be for Andy,” she said to herself. In minutes, a first responder called to inform her it was indeed Andy.
Though he preferred walking, he was in a cart that day and had moved up to the forward tees from which, at 89, he now played. When others in his group standing back on the longer tee box lost sight of him, they ran ahead and found him unconscious on the ground next to the cart. He was unresponsive. Medical personnel rushed him to the hospital and did everything possible to revive him, but their heroic efforts failed.
This is not to imply that the Sun killed a favorite son -- one former Publisher and CEO Paul Godfrey years ago dubbed “the franchise.” But after talking to Andy on Sept. 8 and knowing the occasional tension between him and management, there’s no doubt that he was roiling internally over the censorship. I’m sure he had come to some level of acceptance and, in the days leading up to his death, had reduced the boil to a slow simmer. He was too fun-loving to do anything but. However, Andy being the true journalist he was, it remains difficult to believe that censorship didn’t play at least some small role in these sad events.
Above you will find the rejected cartoon that resulted in Andy Donato's resignation.
