One of Rob Rogers’ cartoons that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette rejected. (©2018 Rob Rogers. Image courtesy of Rob Rogers, Andrews McMeel Syndication)

Longtime political cartoonist Rob Rogers says that between March and June, 18 of his cartoons or concepts about President Donald Trump were rejected by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s new editorial page director.

Before that, he estimates he’d get about two to three cartoons killed per year during his 25-year, award-winning career at the paper.

By mid-June, editors had canned more than his cartoons—they fired Rogers himself.

But now, those 10 finished cartoons and eight sketches will get their very own show at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, called Spiked: The Unpublished Political Cartoons of Rob Rogers.

Rogers says that when the Corcoran reached out to him about displaying the scuttled work, “I was still reeling from being fired. But everything I had been saying on the media was in line with the idea they had—to show these cartoons and let the public decide if they went too far.”

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s editorial page director, Keith Burris, told the paper that he wanted to deal with the “tone and frequency” of Rogers’ cartoons about Trump. “I asked for broader topics and could they be funnier?” Burris said.

Rogers says his termination “was directly related to the Trump cartoons.” He sees it as part of a broader evolution at The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“They started changing the tenor of the paper a while back,” he says. “In January, they wrote an editorial that was defending Trump’s shithole countries comments. People were outraged by that. One reader called up recently and said, ‘I’m really sorry I canceled my subscription after that racist column because now I can’t cancel it after you got fired.'”

Rogers has been floored by the responses from fans and readers since.

“The saving grace in all of this is the public outpouring of support,” he says. “It’s been overwhelming and very touching and reinforces my feeling of wanting to do my best work and standing up for my integrity.”

He has gotten a few messages from people expressing glee that he was fired, but he says those were the same people emailing him beforehand to say they thought he should lose his job. That’s par for the course.

“The work is provocative,” Rogers says. “It’s meant to get people thinking about things and make them uncomfortable—that’s the job description.”

Already, the opening reception for “Spiked” has sold out. The museum is working with the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists and GW’s School for Media and Public Affairs on a series of other events about censorship and freedom of the press in conjunction with the exhibit.

“Spiked” runs from July 18 through October 14. After that, he’ll display the cartoons at the University of Pittsburgh’s art gallery.

What Rogers says has gotten lost in the media attention over the ramifications of his Trump criticism is the effect on local readers. In addition to his cartoons about national politics, he had a weekly comic strip about life in Pittsburgh that Steel City residents will no longer see in their paper.

“Local content is why you hire your own cartoonist rather than just syndicate,” he says. (Rogers is still syndicated.) “Some of the best cartooning being done is local cartooning.”

And what about people who think that politics should stay out of cartoons?

“If you want to read Garfield or Family Circus you can read the funny pages,” Rogers says. “If you want hard-hitting, provocative satire, turn to the editorial page.”

Spiked: The Unpublished Political Cartoons of Rob Rogers opens on July 18 at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (500 17th Street NW) and runs through October 14.