BREAK POINT!
Oz cartoonist’s Serena sketch stokes fire
Sydney, Sept. 11: An Australian cartoonist faced withering criticism on Tuesday for portraying tennis superstar Serena Williams using — what Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling described as — “racist and sexist tropes”.
Mark Knight’s caricature, published in Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper on Monday, showed a butch and fatlipped Serena throwing a temper tantrum at the US Open.
In the midst of losing Saturday’s final, the 23time Grand Slam champion smashed her racquet and called the umpire a “thief ” and a “liar”.
In Knight’s cartoon, Serena was seen jumping up and down having spat out a dummy as the umpire asks HaitianJapanese tournament winner Naomi Osaka “can’t you just let her win?”.
Knight, who has a reputation for controversial cartoons, was pilloried from far and wide for his portrayal — including by a member of the US Congress and a large portion of the 22,000 people who commented on his Twitter post showing the drawing.
The detractors included author J. K. Rowling, who said: “Well done on reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman into a faceless prop.”
Knight responded to the criticism by pointing out that he had drawn an unflattering portrayal of Australian male tennis star Nick Kyrgios “behaving badly.”
“Don’t bring gender into it when it’s all about behaviour,” he said.
Michael Miller, who is an executive chairman of the News Corp Australasia, which publishes the Melbourne’s Herald Sun, defended his cartoonist.
“Criticism of Mark Knight’s Serena Williams cartoon shows the world has gone too PC & misunderstands the role of news media cartoons and satire,” he said.
“Poor behaviour in any sport needs to be called out,” he added.