The designer Plantu leaves the newspaper "Le Monde" -

ISOPIX / SIPA

A cartoonist, then the other… After the controversy around the cartoonist Xavier Gorce, leading to his departure from the newspaper Le Monde, his colleague Plantu, another historical pillar of the newspaper, confirmed to AFP on Friday his departure from the daily on March 31 next.

Plantu confirmed an announcement he had made the night before on the “Arrêt sur images” program.

He puts an end to a collaboration of almost 50 years with the newspaper, stressing that his departure "was planned for a long time".

Cartooning for Peace will replace it

"On March 31, I will be replaced by drawings from Cartooning for peace, the association I created with Kofi Annan 15 years ago", and, depending on the news, there will be "a drawing American, Russian, Venezuelan, Algerian, ”he told AFP.

The famous cartoonist underlined that this solution had been adopted by mutual agreement with the director of Le Monde, Jérôme Fénoglio, and Cartooning for peace: "We have 52 nations represented in Cartooning for Peace", which will make it possible to have every day a designer from a different country, with his own approach, he explained.

Plantu says his support for Xavier Gorce

"It's been ten years since I asked the director of Le Monde to replace me," he said, stressing in passing his full support for his colleague Xavier Gorce.

This cartoonist had announced Wednesday that he would no longer work for the newspaper, judging that “freedom cannot be negotiated”, after the daily had qualified as “error” the publication of one of his drawings on incest, which had shocked Internet users.

A mocking and quirky pencil

“I support him keenly, I love his style.

We must campaign for the shift (in humor).

Seriousness is in the process of invading us, it is the cholera of the imagination, ”said Plantu, repeating a sentence that the recently deceased comedian Guy Bedos had told him.

Ardent activist for freedom of opinion, Jean Plantureux known as “Plantu”, who will be 70 years old in March, has sketched the news every day on the front page of the World with a mocking and offbeat pencil.

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