Australian newspaper defies criticism, reprints Serena Williams cartoon
Australian newspaper defies criticism, reprints Serena Williams cartoon
The Herald Sun, owned by News Corp, first published the caricature of Williams, with exaggerated lips and tongue and curly hair rising from the top of her head as she stomped on her tennis racket on Monday
AnAustraliannewspaperdefied internationalcriticismand allegations of racism on Wednesday when it reprinted a controversialcartoonon its front page depicting U.S. tennis starSerenaWilliamshaving a temper tantrum at the U.S. Open.
The Herald Sun, owned by News Corp, first published the caricature ofWilliams, with exaggerated lips and tongue and curly hair rising from the top of her head as she stomped on her tennis racket on Monday.
The image triggered widespread allegations of racism against illustrator Mark Knight and drew historical comparisons to Jim Crow, a phrase referring to racial segregation laws in the southern US, the origins of which have often been attributed to song-and-dance caricatures of African Americans.
Knight and The Herald Sun deny thecartoonis racist and, despite the outrage, the paper reprinted thecartoonon Wednesday, alongside an unflattering caricatures of USPresident Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as it portrayed the controversy as an effort to curtail free speech.
Thecartoonfuelled a global debate overWilliams' controversial defeat by Japan's Naomi Osaka in the U.S. Open women's singles final in New York on Saturday (September 8).