New Delhi: Canadian editorial cartoonist Michael de Adder was fired from his job, which he held for 17 years, after a cartoon he drew of US President Donald Trump went viral on social media. De Adder revealed on Twitter on Saturday that he was “let go” from the four newspapers he was in contract with in New Brunswick.He later clarified on the social media platform that technically, he had been under contract to work for Brunswick News Inc. (BNI) – and wasn’t an employee who could be fired.My cartoons will no longer appear in @TimesTranscript @DailyGleaner @TJProvincial @TJGreaterSJ— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 28, 2019The cartoon in question depicts Trump by a golf cart with a club in his hand, standing by the bodies of a migrant father and toddler and asking: “Do you mind if I play through.”Cartoon for June 26, 2019 on #trump #BorderCrisis #BORDER #TrumpCamps #TrumpConcentrationCamps pic.twitter.com/Gui8DHsebl— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 26, 2019The illustration is based on the recent devastating photo of 25-year-old Oscar Ramirez and his daughter, two-year-old daughter Valeria, who drowned while attempting to cross the US-Mexico border.The image, which showed the toddler still holding on to her father with both lying face-down in the water, was taken by journalist Julia Le Duc. The photo was meant to highlight the migrant crisis and the high level of risk migrants undertake during their journey to the US.According to HuffPost Canda, Halifax-based de Adder’s career began in 2000 and his work regularly appears in large-circulation newspapers. De Adder’s described the termination of his contract as a “setback not a deathblow,” saying he had “just finished a book” and continues to “freelance for some amazing newspapers”.Brunswick News, which owns the four newspapers Moncton Times Transcript, Fredericton Daily Gleaner, Telegraph-Journal and Telegraph Journal Saint John, however, clarified in a statement that it was “incorrect” to suggest that de Adder’s freelance contract had been cancelled over that particular cartoon:“This is a false narrative which has emerge carelessly and recklessly on social media. In fact, BNI was not even offered this cartoon by Mr de Adder. The decision to bring back reader favourite Greg Perry was made long before this cartoon, and negotiations had been ongoing for weeks.”The cartoon had been shared by de Adder on his social media and wasn’t actually run by any newspaper – for which he questioned:“What’s crazier, a cartoonist getting fired from a newspaper for a cartoon he didn’t draw or a cartoonist being fired from a newspaper for a cartoon they didn’t run?”The publication has, for a while, been censoring illustrations on Donald Trump, the cartoonist revealed on social media, saying that every cartoon he submitted of the US president in the past year “was axed”. He further wrote: “It got to the point where I didn’t submit any Donald Trump cartoons for fear that I might be fired.”The cartoonist further wrote on Twitter that in the past two weeks, he drew three Trump cartoons. Two, he says “went viral” while the third “went supernova”. A day later, he says, “I was let go”.“And not only let go, the cartoons they already had in the can were not used. Overnight it was like I never worked for the paper. Make your own conclusions.”But in the past 2 weeks I drew 3 Trump cartoons. 2 went viral and the third went supernova and a day later I was let go. And not only let go, the cartoons they already had in the can were not used. Overnight it was like I never worked for the paper. Make your own conclusions.— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) July 1, 2019The fact that Trump was a “taboo” subject for Brunswick News was also revealed in a statement by Wes Tyrell, a political cartoonist and the president of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists:“The trope of political figures golfing and showing disdain for issues has been seen before, but de Adder’s take hit a nerve. It went viral and social media stars like George Takei even shared it. For a brief period de Adder was the poster boy for the Anti-Trump movement. A good place to be if you’re a cartoonist, but a bad place to be if you work for a foreign oil company with business ties to the United States.”The “foreign oil company” Tyrell refers to is J.D. Irving, which owns the New Brunswick newspapers. According to him, “Irvings have considerable corporate interests in the United States.” He said that while the cartoon on the US president did not appear in newspapers, its popularity on social media must have caught the attention of the Irving family.“Trade has been an issue since Trump took office, trade that affects the Irvings directly, not to mention a host of other issues.”This is why, Tyrell stressed, “an oil company has no business owning newspapers.”Whether the powers that be in America would make the connection between de Adder’s cartoon and Brunswick News doesn’t matter.It seems that the Irving’s don’t want to take that chance. So they cut all ties.An oil company has no business owning newspapers.#deAdder— Wes Tyrell (@tyrell_wes) June 30, 2019