Sexism and racism: a caricature of Serena Williams was more controversial than her antics of the US Open

Australian newspaper Herald Sun was at the center of a scandal over a cartoon for American tennis player Serena Williams after her defeat in the US Open 2018 final. What caused a wave of criticism and why, after the caricature, did they start talking about the prosperity of hidden racism in the country?

In the finals of the US Open Grand Slam tournament in the women's singles, American Serena Williams lost to Japanese athlete Naomi Osaka, says Rtvi. The match ended in two sets. During the game on the court there was a scandal. First, the chief judge punished the American with a warning for what the coach suggested to her during the match. Then he awarded a point to a Japanese woman, because Williams broke the racket in a fit of anger.

Tennis player did not agree with the decision of the arbitrator, entered into a skirmish with him, accused of sexism and called the thief. For insulting the judge, she lost the game, and the score in the second set was 5: 3 in favor of Osaka. As a result, the Japanese won the most important career victory, but everyone discussed only Williams prank.

Because of the incident, Williams was fined 17 thousands of dollars. Of this amount, 4000 dollars are a penalty for the coach’s hint, another 3000 for a racket broken by an athlete in the hearts, and another 10 thousand for insulting a judge on the tower.

After the scandalous finale, Australian cartoonist Mark Knight drew a cartoon. He is weeping Williams jumping next to a broken racket and pacifier. At the same time, the artist portrayed the lips and nose of an American tennis player as unnaturally large, while she herself clearly looks fat. African Americans were usually depicted in this way during racial segregation in the United States.

In the background, Knight depicted a referee on the tower who asks his rival Williams: “Can you just let her win?”. At the same time the Japanese tennis player on the caricature is a slim blonde.

According to Knight, the cartoon came under a barrage of criticism when Americans began to distribute it on social networks. “The world just went crazy,” the cartoonist commented on this story. As a result, he deleted his Twitter account.

Australian newspaper and its author have been accused of racism by both ordinary twitter users and celebrities ranging from movie stars to politicians. The American Association of Black Journalists said that the caricature grossly distorted the images of African-American and Japanese women, who reached the highest level in professional sports, as well as filled with racism and sexism.

Editorial Herald Sun defended its employee. The newspaper agreed with the position of Knight that the caricature carries neither sexist nor racist overtones. She only depicts a great athlete in a moment of hysterics, which occurred in front of thousands of spectators, and emphasizes her unworthy behavior that day.

By the way, in 2012, Mark Knight was already accused of racism because of his caricature, which was released on Australia Day (a holiday that marks the beginning of the European colonization of the continent). Some found it offensive that the artist depicted indigenous people.

And in August, 2018, he was criticized for depicting black figures who destroy the metro station in Melbourne. The caricature saw parallels with "African teenagers" who allegedly terrorize the city.

Australia is proud of multiculturalism and the fact that every fourth citizen was born abroad. In early August, the Bureau of Statistics of Australia reported that the population exceeded 25 million people. More likely, the migrant was the 25 millionth Australian, not the newborn. The influx of immigrants into the country is still ahead of fertility rates.

CNN TV channel in response to the publication of caricatures cited statistics, which show that in Australia 95% of key positions in the business are people of Anglo-Saxon or European origin.

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