Media watchdog says Williams cartoon didn’t breach standards
SYDNEY, Australia — The Australian Press Council has ruled there was no breach of its standards of practice in a cartoon of tennis star Serena Williams which attracted global condemnation after being published by Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper last September.
The depiction of Williams by cartoonist Mark Knight showed the 23-time major winner reacting angrily during her loss to Naomi Osaka in the final of the U.S. Open. Williams is depicted with her mouth open wide, hands in fists and jumping above a broken tennis racket and a baby’s pacifier. The umpire was shown telling a blond, slender woman — meant to be Osaka, who is a Japanese mother and a father from Haiti — “Can you just let her win?”
In a ruling published Monday, the Australian Press Council said it “acknowledged that some readers found the cartoon offensive” but said there was sufficient public interest in commenting on the behaviour of a player with a globally high profile.