The cartoonist behind a racist depiction of Serena Williams at the US Open final deleted his Twitter account on Tuesday as his Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tried to defend the controversial illustration.
On Tuesday, The Herald Sun ran an article titled 'Herald Sun backs Mark Knight's cartoon on Serena Wiliams' in which the newspaper's editor Damon Johnston said: 'It had nothing to do with gender or race. This was about a bad sport being mocked.'
Knight, who hit back at one Twitter critic who called him sexist but said nothing to the tens of thousands of people who labeled him racist, erased his profile after going on an Australian radio show to plead his case.
On Monday, he had shared the image proudly writing: 'My toon in today's Herald Sun.'
Within minutes, he was inundated with criticism from people all over the world who called the image 'disgustingly racist' and 'truly vile'.
The Herald Sun has defended Mark Knight's cartoon of Serena Williams at the US Open, saying it has 'nothing to do with race' and that he was merely depicting a world class athlete having an on-court tantrum
The Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tweeted this on Tuesday in defense of the image. It also ran three articles which claimed Knight's image had 'nothing to do with race' and was instead only taking aim at Williams' behavior on the court
The cartoon depicted Williams as a baby having a tantrum with a pacifier spat-out at her feet, her fists clenched and her eyes shut.
It was not the characterization of her as a baby which offended, but rather the enlarged size of her lips and nose which many said were reminiscent of Jim Crow-era illustrations of African American women.
Others were outraged by the fact her opponent, Haitian-Japanese 20-year-old Naomi Osaka, was depicted by Knight as slender, white and blonde.
But despite tens of thousands of complaints, neither Knight nor the newspaper acknowledged any wrongdoing.
Knight, in defending his illustration, told the radio show 3AW: 'It's a cartoon about poor behavior. It's nothing to do with race.
'I'm sorry it's been taken by social media and distorted so much.'
In a separate interview with ABC, he said: 'I drew her as an African-American woman.
Knight, who proudly shared the illustration on Twitter on Monday, has deleted his account
The Executive Chairman of News Corp Australasia, Michael Miller, stood by the image
'She’s powerfully built. She wears these outrageous costumes when she plays tennis.
'She’s interesting to draw. I drew her as she is, as an African-American woman.
'So, this whole business that I’m some sort of racist, calling on racial cartoons from the past, it’s just made up. It’s not there.'
The newspaper ran three separate articles in support of Knight on Tuesday.
One was an editorial which read: 'The world has officially gone mad when a celebrated cartoonist is condemned by the social media hordes for depicting a famous sports star throwing an unedifying tantrum.'
Cartoonist Mark Knight said he drew Williams 'as she is'; a 'powerfully built', 'African American woman'
Australian cartoonists lined up to defend him and said his critics had misunderstood his art.
Their comments celebrating him were promoted by the newspaper and included the assertion that the global outrage in response to the image was a sign of the 'PC brigade' going too far.
Among those who were enraged and disgusted by Knight's cartoon was J.K. Rowling.
'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,' she said on Monday.
Kathy Griffn called him a 'racist piece of s**t' and told him: 'Just change your name to KKK cartoons.'
Nikki Minaj was equally enraged.
She challenged Knight directly, saying on her radio show: 'Our culture and our community loves this woman’s body, by the way.
'You drew this woman trying to be funny or looking like you were trying to make fun of her or some s**t like, are you out of your f****** mind?
'I am all for people having freedom, I’m not getting on him in terms of saying you’re not allowed to express yourself, but I just feel like you went out of your way to make her look badly, physically badly, and this is a sexy woman.
Knight faced a tsunami of criticism on Twitter where users likened his cartoon to Jim Crow-era illustrations of black women
Williams and Osaka are pictured after their match. Critics asked why the cartoonist 'whitewashed' Osaka, who is Haitian-Japanese, and why the cartoonist exaggerated Williams' features
'We are not allowing this done to our own anymore, it has to stop. She demonstrated grace. She demonstrated passion. There is a difference between passion and a f****** ‘meltdown’.
'Why the f*** is everyone allowed to be passionate but black women? Why? Give me a break.
'I just want to know why did you… draw a picture of this legend in our community, making her look like this? Like some sort of an animal having a temper tantrum.'
Others deemed it 'disgustingly racist', 'truly vile' and 'an insult to both women'.
'In 100 years time this cartoon will be viewed no differently than old images of Jim Crow, or the newspaper cartoons drawn of Jack Johnson. Mark Knight has just drawn his way into the history books,' said one critic.
Others likened it to the black mammy cartoons and memorabilia that are synonymous with the Jim Crow era.
They were equally outraged by his depiction of Williams as they were of him 'white washing' Osaka.
'And who is the white girl? Her opponent is Haitian & Japanese.
'You're clearly trying to send a racist message. Disgusting,' another critic said.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/09/12/artist-behind-racist-serena-williams-cartoon-deletes-twitter-as-his-newspaper-tries-to-defend-him/
Main photo article The cartoonist behind a racist depiction of Serena Williams at the US Open final deleted his Twitter account on Tuesday as his Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper tried to defend the controversial illustration.
On Tuesday, The Herald Sun ran an article titled ‘Herald Sun backs Mark ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/09/11/16/500469CF00000578-6155851-image-a-28_1536680837914.jpg
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