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Posted at 02:04 AM on 12 September 2018 |
SportsPulse: Trysta Krick and Nancy Armor look at the complex history of the tennis community and Serena Williams, which led to controversy at the US Open last weekend and the racist caricature that portrays Williams.
USA TODAY & # 39; HUI
This Mark Knight comic, published by the Herald Sun, shows Serena Williams as a black woman, big and brave, who jumps up and down on a broken racket. The referee was shown telling a blonde and slender woman – supposed to be Naomi Osaka, who is actually Japanese and Haitian – "Can you let her win?" (Mark Knight / Heral Sun-News Corp. via AP) ORG XMIT: TKTT801(Photo: Mark Knight / Herald Sun-News Corp via AP)
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – A caricature of Serena Williams, who has been widely condemned as a racist depiction of big names in tennis, has been partially featured on the front page of the Melbourne-based newspaper that originally published it.
The Herald Sun newspaper printed part of the cartoon – starring Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner in a dispute with a referee in the US Open final – among caricatures of other celebrities on Wednesday. to the world of PCs. "
The newspaper, which has the biggest circulation in Australia, defended Caricaturist Mark Knight's portrayal of Williams and says the conviction, which comes from all parts of the world, is politically correct.
"If Mark Knight's self-proclaimed censors make their way to Serena Williams's design, our new politically correct life will be very boring," the newspaper said on the front page.
Williams won the Australian Open single title seven times in Melbourne Park, including in 2017, when she was pregnant. She is a crowd favorite at the first major tennis tournament of the year, held annually in January in a venue in front of the Herald Sun headquarters.
More: Caricaturist defends controversial portrait of Serena Williams
More: A drawing representing Serena Williams, crisis-thrower, at the US Open, provokes a new wave of indignation
In comments published by News Corp., Knight said he created the caricature after watching Saturday's "crisis" Williams in the final defeat of his US Open against Naomi Osaka on Saturday and that it was intended to illustrate "his bad driving race."
Knight reportedly deactivated his Twitter account after his cartoon post attracted tens of thousands of comments, mostly critical.
During the final against Osaka, Williams received a warning from the chair umpire for violating a rule rarely imposed prohibiting coaching from the sidelines. Williams, indignant, defended himself categorically, denying having cheated. Shortly after, she broke her racket in frustration and was docked to a point. She protested and apologized to the referee, who penalized him for a match.
Critics of Knight's cartoon have described it as a clear example of stereotype faced by black women, portraying Williams as an angry, imposing, black-haired woman who jumps up and down on a racket broken. The referee was shown telling a blonde and slender woman – supposed to be Osaka, who is Japanese and Haitian – "Can you let her win?"
"I was deeply offended.This is not a joke," said Vanessa K. De Luca, former editor-in-chief of Essence magazine, who wrote an article on American Fury.
The cartoonist "completely missed the point of why she was upset," De Luca told The Associated Press. "It was about his integrity, and anyone who does not understand this perpetuates the erasure that so many black women feel when they try to defend themselves." It's as if our opinions do not make sense. did not matter. "
In a social media article, Peter Blunden, chief operating officer of News Corp. in the state of Victoria, said: "The best Australian cartoonist, Mark Knight, has the strongest support of his colleagues for his portrayal of Serena Williams' emotion, bad behavior, certainly not race. far from the mark … again. "
This is not the first time that a comic appeared in the News Corp. newspaper. drew allegations of racism. In 2009, civil rights leaders and others criticized a New York Post cartoon, some of which interpreted as a comparison of President Barack Obama with a violent chimpanzee.
In Britain, where fiercely competitive tabloids often trade in sensationalism, newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch have been accused of sexism, racism and xenophobia over the years. Last year, Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of Murdoch's Sun, resigned in contributing to the tabloid after writing an article comparing a football player of Nigerian descent to a gorilla.
Many years of outrage at articles and caricatures have done little to undermine Murdoch's power over British politics and media. Murdoch was forced to close the 168-year-old News of the World tabloid, after the revelation that his employees had intercepted phone calls from celebrities, politicians and victims of crime.
Australian playwright and actress Nakkiah Lui tweeted in response to the front page, claiming that the Herald Sun had to "relax."
"Freedom of expression does not mean freedom over criticism," she said.
"What we have is a group of people who are paid to publicly exercise their implicit freedom of speech and then complain when people do not agree with what they've had. the privilege of being paid, "she added.
Australian writer Maxine Beneba Clarke said the cover page showed a "misunderstanding" of criticism of the cartoon.
"I think it's really interesting that the Herald Sun did not include any other cartoons or cartoons of blacks – either aboriginal, african-american, blacks of all origins" said Clarke, of Afro-Caribbean origin. Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Cartoonist Paul Zanetti, a friend of Knight, said the caricature was threatened by politically correct, and that the front page of the Herald Sun "specified exactly where we are at this stage."
"Politically correct is really about censorship, it's about being forced to conform to a worldview," he said.
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