An Australian newspaper has chosen to defy ”political correctness” by republishing a contentious cartoon of American professional tennis player, Serena Williams, on its front-page; ignoring claims that the drawing is racist and sexist.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun cartoonist, Mark Knight’s Wednesday caricature of Williams in a fit of rage at the US Open, was initially published on Monday, causing worldwide condemnation.
Below its front-page headline: “Welcome To PC World”, the article stated that, ”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”.
The cover also had cartoon representations of other Australian and foreign political heads that had been drawn by Knight.
Knight said the outcry against his cartoon shows that the ”world has just gone crazy”.
According to him, ”The cartoon about Serena is about her poor behavior on the day, not about race.”
The caricature has also led to a renewed debate in Australia about racist and sexist dialogue in the nation that is made up of many ethnic groups and cultures.
Knight’s critics include author, J.K Rowling, who was quoted as saying: ”Well done on reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman into a faceless prop.”
Image: Hearstapps
