It is the end of nearly half a century of collaboration between "Le Monde" and Jean Plantureux, better known under the name of Plantu.
The 69-year-old cartoonist confirms his departure from the evening daily this Friday, after having announced it the day before, quite unexpectedly, to the online media Arrêt sur Images.
“We called him about the disputed drawing of his colleague Xavier Gorce.
But Jean Plantureux said Plantu took the opportunity to announce his retirement, set for March 31, ”explains the site.
Plantu insists: his departure has “nothing to do” with the Gorce controversy, which slammed the door of the newspaper two days earlier after a controversial cartoon, from which Le Monde had chosen to dissociate itself.
Plantu's departure is set for March 31, according to the designer.
The Cartooning for Peace collective, which he founded in 2006, should take over from the drawing for One of the daily paper, for which he has worked since 1972. For its part, Le Monde has neither overturned nor confirmed the decision.
Plantu emphasizes for his part that his departure "had been planned for a long time".
Jean Plantureux takes his bow after five decades spent crunching the news, sometimes at the risk of attracting strong criticism, to - it seems - to retire.
His link with Le Monde had printed even on the walls of the former premises of the national daily, in the 13th arrondissement of the capital, where the facade was covered with one of his sketches, alongside a text by Victor Hugo.
We called him to interview him on his ex-colleague Xavier Gorce, whom he supports, but Plantu took the opportunity to announce his own departure from the World on March 31.
He assures that the decision has nothing to do with the Gorce affair.
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- Stop on Images (@arretsurimages) January 21, 2021
