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MELBOURNE, Australia – A comic book by Serena Williams that 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 published part of the comic – starring Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner in a dispute with a referee in the US Open final. "Welcome to PC World."
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 singles title of the Australian Open at 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.
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 a stereotype faced by black women, portraying Williams as being angry, imposing and speechless, jumping 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?"
"(The caricaturist) completely missed the sense of reason (Serena Williams) was upset.It was about her integrity and anyone who does not understand it perpetuates the erasure that so many black women feel when they try to defend themselves, it's as if our opinions did not matter. "
Vanessa K. De Luca, former editor-in-chief of Essence magazine
"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 the fury of the US Open.
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 sensationalism, News Corp.'s 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.
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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