Serena Williams Cartoon: Mark Knight Defends Caricature, Publication Doubles Down Support

Australian cartoonist Mark Knight and the publication that employs him — the Herald Sun — are not going down without a fight in the midst of a wave of global criticism over his depiction of Serena Williams after the 2018 US Open women’s singles final.

The American tennis legend had yet another US Open meltdown after she felt she was mistreated by the chair umpire — Carlos Ramos — during the game, which she lost to Japan’s Naomi Osaka. Williams was first docked a point and then a game as she was found violating the code on three occasions.

The 23-time women’s singles Grand Slam champion launched a tirade against Ramos calling him a thief and a liar as the US Open final descended into chaos in the second set. In what was supposed to be Osaka’s greatest moment, all the attention was on Williams’ row with the chair umpire and the tournament officials.

In the aftermath of the game, Knight, a well-known cartoonist, for the Australian publication released a caricature of Williams, showing her throwing a tantrum on court by jumping on her broken racket with a pacifier nearby. While in the background, her blonde opponent representing Osaka is facing the umpire, who seems to be pleading: “Can you just let her win.”

The drawing caused a major uproar with renowned personalities and the public from the world over criticizing the artist and the publication for their racist and sexist depiction of the American tennis star.

The Australian cartoonist defended himself by insisting that the caricature was only depicting the tantrum Williams threw on court during the women’s singles final, with nothing to do with gender or race.

“When I watched the U.S. Open, I was sitting there like everybody else, and I saw the world No. 1 tennis player have a huge hissy fit and spit the dummy,” Knight said. “That’s what the cartoon is about, her poor behavior on the court. Nothing to do with gender or racism at all.”

“I think what’s happening here is people are just making stuff up. The cartoon was just about Serena on the day having a tantrum. That’s basically it,” Knight said.

This is not the first time Knight has been pulled up for one of his cartoons. Meanwhile, the Herald Sun released a statement saying he had the full backing of the publication.

“A champion tennis player had a mega tantrum on the world stage, and Mark’s cartoon depicted that,” editor Damon Johnston said. “It had nothing to do with gender or race.”

The publication has now escalated the row even further by depicting Williams’ cartoon on the front page along with multiple other caricatures drawn by Knight in the recent past. It includes drawings of Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

The headline on the front page of the Herald Sun reads: “Welcome to PC World” with the subhead going on to add: “If the self-appointed censors of Mark Knight get their way on his Serena Williams cartoon, our new politically correct life will be very dull indeed.”