Charlie Hebdo cartoonist quits amidst staff rebellion
Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Rénald Luzier has announced his resignation from the controversy courting satirical magazine as he struggles to come to terms with the trauma induced by the murder of editor Stéphane Charbonnier and four fellow cartoonists in a Paris terror attack.
Explaining the rationale behind his departure Luz said: “Each issue is torture because the others are gone. Spending sleepless nights summoning the dead, wondering what Charb, Cabu, Honoré, Tignous would have done is exhausting.
“I’m no longer interested in returning to normal life as a news cartoonist.”
The cartoonist narrowly escaped death alongside his colleagues after sleeping in on the morning of the attack, arriving in time to see the attackers speed off in their getaway car.
Luzier’s departure comes amidst a staff dispute over control of a cash windfall generated by the magazine in the wake of the attack as readers queued to buy copies in a show of solidarity with the title.
Fifteen of 20 surviving staff members have called for all employees to be made equal shareholders in the business, which is 60 per cent owned by new editor Laurent Sourisseau.
Charlie Hebdo has made €12m in pre-tax profit amidst a sales boom driven by publicity surrounding the attack and will distribute €4.3m in donations to victim’s families.