One of the surviving cartoonists from Charlie Hebdo has decided to quit the magazine, citing increased pressure in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine in January, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Rénald Luzier, who signs his illustrations ‘Luz’, said in an interview with French daily Libération, that his “very personal choice” would allow him “to rebuild, to take back control of himself.”
The cartoonist became an icon in the wake of the attack by Islamic extremists that killed 12 people earlier this year, after he penned a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad for the cover of the first issue of the magazine following the attack.
Yet the cartoonist said that the media attention had weighed on him in recent times.
“You don’t know anymore which Luz you are speaking for. The one born on Jan. 7, 1972 or the one that was born for France on the 7th of January 2015,” said Mr. Luzier.
The killings turned Charlie Hebdo—whose biggest commercial successes have often come when it has been at its most controversial, such as in its treatment of religion and in particular Islam—into one of the world’s best-known symbols of free expression.