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Reuters
Melbourne
An Australian newspaper defended its cartoonist on Tuesday after publishing a caricature of Serena Williams having a temper tantrum at the US Open, 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 women's singles final in New York on Saturday. 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.
The Herald Sun, published a defence on its website, quoting Knight as saying:"The cartoon about Serena is about her poor behaviour on the day, not about race."
