Controversial Serena Williams Cartoon Defended

A political cartoonist and the newspaper he works for spoke out Tuesday in defense a drawing of Serena Williams that some people are calling racist and sexist, reports The L-A Times.

The cartoon ran Monday in the Herald Sun, a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid based in Melbourne, Australia. It shows Williams during her now famous meltdown while playing Naomi Osaka in the U.S. Open final on Saturday.

Artist Mark Knight purposely portrayed Williams in an unflattering light — stomping on her tennis racket with a baby’s pacifier on the ground nearby, as if it had popped out of her mouth.

“I drew this cartoon Sunday night after seeing the US Open final, and seeing the world’s best tennis player have a tantrum and thought that was interesting,” he said in a Herald Sun article.

But some people did not approve of the way Knight drew Williams — overweight with some other exaggerated features — especially when compared to his depiction of Osaka, whose parents are from Haiti and Japan, as a slender blond in the background.

Knight defended himself during a radio interview Monday night, saying “It’s a cartoon about poor behavior. It’s nothing to do with race.”

“People said I’m a racist because I drew Serena as an African American woman,” Knight said. “I drew her as this powerful figure, which she is, she’s strongly built. They say I’m racist because I drew Naomi Osaka in the background with blond hair. Well, she does have her hair dyed blond.”

The Herald Sun also had its artist’s back. Editor Damon Johnston was quoted by the paper as saying: “A champion tennis player had a mega tantrum on the world stage, and Mark’s cartoon depicted that. It had nothing to do with gender or race. This was about a bad sport being mocked.”