An Australian newspaper has defended its decision to publish a provocative cartoon of the tennis star Serena Williams, using the image again — this time on its front page — and railing against “politically correct” critics who deemed the drawing racist.
The headline “Welcome to PC World” — accompanied by caricatures of Ms. Williams, Australian politicians, President Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea — was displayed on the front of the print edition of Tuesday evening’s Herald Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch.
“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 type below the headline said, referring to the cartoonist who created the drawing. Under the rendering of Ms. Williams are the words “Vetoed: large hair and lips, too angry.”
The cartoon, which mocked Ms. Williams’s behavior during last week’s U.S. Open Women’s final, drew widespread criticism from athletes, fans and public figures around the world, including the author J.K. Rowling and the rapper Nicki Minaj.
Critics said the exaggerated facial features of Ms. Williams were reminiscent of racist Jim Crow-era drawings and questioned why Naomi Osaka, the U.S. Open winner, who is of Japanese and Haitian descent, was drawn with blond hair and light skin.
Source: NY Times
