Australia paper defends Serena Williams cartoon despite outrage

By Gabriella Borter

 

Serena Williams yells at chair umpire Carlos Ramos in the women's final against Naomi Osaka of Japan at the U.S. Open in New York. Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY SPORTS

 

(Reuters) - An Australian newspaper defended its cartoonist on Tuesday after publishing a caricature ofSerena Williams having a temper tantrum at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which civil rights leaders, celebrities and fans condemned as racist.

 

Cartoonist Mark Knight's image, published in Melbourne's Herald Sun, showed an angry Williams with exaggerated lips and tongue and a wild plume of curly hair rising from the top of her head as she stomped on her tennis racket.

 

"This despicable cartoon tried and failed to diminish the greatness & grace of @serenawilliams. Racism in any form is unacceptable," civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson tweeted on Monday.

 

The cartoon was intended as a lampoon of the tennis star's angry exchanges with chair umpire Carlos Ramos at the U.S. Women's Singles final in New York on Saturday.

 

Williams clashed with Ramos over penalties she thought she did not deserve and ultimately lost to Naomi Osaka, a 20-year-old player born in Japan.

 

Knight's portrayal of Osaka as blond and light-skinned also drew criticism for being racist.

 

The Herald Sun reported on Tuesday that Knight had been mentioned on Twitter nearly 74,000 times following the cartoon's publication.

 

"This isn't satire - it is disgusting racist caricature," Twitter user Rose Weber wrote on Tuesday.

 

The Herald Sun, owned by a News Corp subsidiary, published a defence of its cartoonist on the home page of its website, quoting Knight as saying: "The cartoon about Serena is about her poor behaviour on the day, not about race."

 

Williams was fined $17,000 for three code violations during the controversial match, including breaking a racket and verbally abusing the umpire. She did not stomp on her racket during the match as the cartoon portrayed.

 

The National Association of Black Journalists said the cartoon was "repugnant on many levels."

 

"The Sept 10 cartoon not only exudes racist, sexist caricatures of both women, but Williams’ depiction is unnecessarily sambo-like,” the association said in a statement.

 

"Sambo," a derogatory term for a black person, is the name of a folkloric figure usually depicted with an exaggerated mouth and an ape-like stance.

 

Some Twitter users, however, contested that the image was not racist. Lynne Adams tweeted on Tuesday, "Serena Williams is a large black woman who had a complete meltdown, what is racist about this cartoon."

 

After the match, Twitter users and tennis commentators alike said the penalties assessed to Williams were excessively harsh, and some said they may have reflected sexism and racism in tennis officiating.

 

Williams said that male players were held to a lower standard for court conduct.

 

"I'm here fighting for women's rights and women's equality,” Williams said at a news conference after the match.

 

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Marguerita Choy)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-09-12

The Madness has reached Down Under...so much for the bold, brash children of Convicts that wrenched a savage land into civilization. Its over, they will ban guns next!

Blacks are not a protected species.

The many caricatures of Trump and other white people passes unremarked.

He drew her as an ugly black woman having a tantrum. That is exactly what she was.

For those who care to notice before jumping on the virtue signalling bandwagon, Osaka was sporting a blond dyed ponytail and looked lighter-skinned in the photo I saw.

Here's another cartoon from this despicable racist:

 

 

Look at the exaggerated lips and nose. Racist prick!

She turned and made the whole incident about women eqaulity and sexsime issu and branded the umpire as a lier and a thief, and this is exactly how she was depicted in the cartoon... 

 

 the NAMJ's the only body that said the Sambo word...

 

 

the picture spoke a 1000 words 

 

but I'm sure she'll do a MacEnroe on his face if she ever got the chance

 

 

It's ironic that the rules she was raving about have come about precisely because of the bad behaviour of those naughty MEN in years gone by.....

Why turn everything into a racism-sexism exchange of opinions, imho Serena Williams regrets already her own behaviour.

She just looked ungracious in defeat.... But it's said that later she acknowledged Naomi Osaka deserved victory.

Personally Ihink the cartoon was hilarious and was the caricature of what we saw on the court.

Williams was a disgrace to her sport and tried to turn her defeat and tantrums in to a woman thing.

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

Blacks are not a protected species.

The many caricatures of Trump and other white people passes unremarked.

He drew her as an ugly black woman having a tantrum. That is exactly what she was.

For those who care to notice before jumping on the virtue signalling bandwagon, Osaka was sporting a blond dyed ponytail and looked lighter-skinned in the photo I saw.

so you an't heard of historical context then and I see you got some buzzwords in too, top marks

I guess that's Serena and Mohammad you can't draw now.

 

Nothing racist at all in the cartoon.

2 minutes ago, PremiumLane said:

so you an't heard of historical context then and I see you got some buzzwords in too, top marks

 

So historical context means that a black female cannot be the subject of a cartoon?

It seems like the biggest manufacturing industry in the West these days is the manufacturing of outrage.

 

Every possible slight is blown up to massive proportions to enable people to gain "victimhood" points or virtue signal on behalf of the "oppressed".

 

It's not going to turn out well.

2 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

 

So historical context means that a black female cannot be the subject of a cartoon?

No, cos that is not what I was saying, at all ? 

Just now, RickBradford said:

It seems like the biggest manufacturing industry in the West these days is the manufacturing of outrage.

 

Every possible slight is blown up to massive proportions to enable people to gain "victimhood" points or virtue signal on behalf of the "oppressed".

 

It's not going to turn out well.

and yet here you are, being outraged ? 

2 minutes ago, PremiumLane said:

and yet here you are, being outraged ? 

Not outraged, just saddened.

 

For one thing, I'm saddened that Ms Williams, who was born into a tough environment, and dragged herself to the top of the tennis tree through extraordinary discipline and dedication, should now feel, in accordance with the times, that she has to seek victim status.

 

That's the last thing she is.

4 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

 

So historical context means that a black female cannot be the subject of a cartoon?

 

Sure they can, but Serena Williams is a class act that has earned many many benefits of any doubt. Not to mention, IMO, I think she was in the right.

2 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Sure they can, but Serena Williams is a class act that has earned many many benefits of any doubt. Not to mention, IMO, I think she was in the right.

Her chat with the referee was not a class act , even Miss Williams would admit that.

1 hour ago, DoctorG said:

Blacks are not a protected species.

The many caricatures of Trump and other white people passes unremarked.

He drew her as an ugly black woman having a tantrum. That is exactly what she was.

For those who care to notice before jumping on the virtue signalling bandwagon, Osaka was sporting a blond dyed ponytail and looked lighter-skinned in the photo I saw.

 

 

Have you heard of whats called a protected class?     Surely you learned about it in your civics course in school.

 

"U.S. federal law protects individuals from discrimination or harassment based on the following nine protected classes: sex, race, age, disability, color, creed, national origin, religion, or genetic information (added in 2008). Many state laws also give certain protected groups special protection against harassment and discrimination, as do many employer policies. Although it is not required by federal law, employer policies may also protect employees from harassment or discrimination based on marital status or sexual orientation.[1] The following characteristics are "protected" by United States federal anti-discrimination law:"

3 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Her chat with the referee was not a class act , even Miss Williams would admit that.

 

Yeah, I think she probably would, but let's try to keep some perspective here, eh?

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/serena-williams-meltdown-sexism_us_5b949689e4b0511db3e30cdd

14 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Yeah, I think she probably would, but let's try to keep some perspective here, eh?

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/serena-williams-meltdown-sexism_us_5b949689e4b0511db3e30cdd

No bias here then? ?

 

Williams (who’s chair of the board of advisers for HuffPost’s parent company, Oath)

9 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Yeah, I think she probably would, but let's try to keep some perspective here, eh?

 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/serena-williams-meltdown-sexism_us_5b949689e4b0511db3e30cdd

No , i disagree, a sore loser is a sore loser, moreover we are not talking about amateurish sunday football, we are talking about some very rich sport superstar.

I think i have the right to expect a polite behaviour from those overpaid superstars, even Nastase and McEnroe, at the time, were heavily criticised for turning tennis matches into unpleasant comedies.

12 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

No , i disagree, a sore loser is a sore loser, moreover we are not talking about amateurish sunday football, we are talking about some very rich sport superstar.

I think i have the right to expect a polite behaviour from those overpaid superstars, even Nastase and McEnroe, at the time, were heavily criticised for turning tennis matches into unpleasant comedies.

 

Except with Nastase and McEnroethat was the rule, rather than the exception. Serena should not have destroyed her racket and deserved to be penalized for that, but the coaching call was BS IMO.

Some old stereotypes just never die...we've (in America) just really never faced up to our collective guilt about slavery and continuing racism, so we fall back to our old ways quite easily.

 

This cartoon was absolutely racist, and quite shameful - interesting that the Japanese-American-Haitian player is depicted as white/blond, and Serena has extremely exaggerated features.

 

Of course, Australia has their own racist issues albeit involving a native population, so not surprising the cartoonist fell back into the racist ways.

 

 

Serena Williams and the trope of the 'angry black woman'

 

Her reactions to the referee's calls - which the Women's Tennis Association has since decried as "sexist" - were no different from how many top players react in the heat of a championship game.

 

But it was the way she was punished for her anger that has sparked further outrage.

 

"As it was unfolding I could tell this was not going to turn out well," says law professor Trina Jones. "I knew it was going to be a trainwreck."

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45476500

 

she could still learn that Japanese Lives matter... Umpires' Lives matter

this is what she's jumping up'n'down about... in case anybody the other side of the Earth missed their chance...

 

 

    how to make a racket, whilst breaking a racquet

 

Not sure what all the fuss is about .

 

A good racist analyst would probably call  Williams behavior racist. She could not stand to lose to an Asian and could not control her emotions.

57 minutes ago, lannarebirth said:

 

Sure they can, but Serena Williams is a class act that has earned many many benefits of any doubt. Not to mention, IMO, I think she was in the right.

Hmmmm, not only did I think she was wrong, but making this a sexual discrimination case probably damaged women's tennis a bit.  She was claiming that men wouldn't be penalized for the same.  But in fact, during this US Open, men received 4 times as many code violations as women. 

 

But to be fair, Serena was extremely gracious and humble during the trophy award ceremony.  Gotta respect that.

Guess Williams just doesn't understand Australian Humour.....