Newspaper reprints controversial cartoon of Serena Williams
MELBOURNE (AP) — A controversial cartoon of Serena Williams that has been widely condemned as a racist depiction of the tennis great has been partially reprinted on the front page of the Melbourne-based newspaper that initially published it.
The Herald Sun newspaper printed an edited portion of the cartoon — featuring 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams jumping on a broken racket during her dispute with a chair umpire in the US Open final — among caricatures of other famous people yesterday under the headline “Welcome to the PC World.”
The newspaper has defended its cartoonist Mark Knight’s depiction of Williams and is asserting the condemnation, which has come from all parts of the world, is driven by political correctness.
“If the self-appointed censors of Mark Knight get their way on his Serena Williams cartoon, our new politically correct life will be very dull indeed,” the paper printed on its front page.
Williams has won the Australian Open singles title seven times at Melbourne Park, including 2017 when she was pregnant. She is a crowd favorite at the first tennis major of the year, which is held each January at a venue that is within sight of the Herald Sun’s headquarters.
In comments published by News Corp., Knight said that he created the cartoon after watching Williams’ “tantrum” during her US Open final loss to Naomi Osaka on Saturday and that it was designed to illustrate “her poor behavior on the day, not about race.”
Knight reportedly has disabled his Twitter account after his post of the cartoon attracted tens of thousands of comments, mostly critical.