Husband of tennis superstar Serena Williams, Alex Ohanian Sr, has responded to the controversial cartoon of his wife at the US Open that was drawn by Mark Knight and published by Australian newspaper the Herald Sun last week.
In an angry tweet, Ohanian called the cartoon of Williams “racist and misogynistic”, but directed his comment not to Knight, but to the newspaper’s editor, Damon Johnston, who had publicly defended the publication.
Ohanian, a co-founder of website Reddit, wrote:
“I am truly perplexed to learn this editor of the Australian newspaper behind the blatantly racist & misogynistic cartoon of my wife is a ‘Male Champion of Change” … Is this supposed to be satire, too?”
In an unexpected but significant move, Ohanian also tagged Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick in the tweet.
Last week the Herald Sun ran the cartoon by Knight, in response to Williams’ outburst after a ‘coaching’ allegation from umpire Carlos Ramos at the grand slam event.
Williams had vehemently defended herself to Ramos, accusing him of sexism, when she was penalised a game after what he deemed to be three code violations. At one point, the tennis superstar threw her racquet on the court with such force that it was crushed.
It was a-typical behaviour from Williams, prompting Knight to satirise the moment.
The cartoon quickly attracted worldwide condemnation, and social media backlash, for being racist. Many influential people including author J.K. Rowling, and Australian Waleed Aly, criticised the drawing for being a stereotype and racist.
Johnston on Tuesday defended Knight:
“A champion tennis player had a mega tantrum on the world stage, and Mark’s cartoon depicted that. It had nothing to do with gender or race.”
In further defiance of the criticism, Johnston then tweeted a preview that the newspaper intended to publish the next day, questioning the “satire free zone of the world” – and re-printing the cartoon.
It is that tweet which Ohanian has responded to, directly calling out the editor for comment.
Top Comments
Is the Herald-Sun well-known for it's right-wing leanings ?
Then I'm not surprised it's defended this ugly caricature of Serena.
That's at least the extreme-right-wing shtick - " getting away with hurtful, racist, fascist, xenophobic imagery and comments while feigning innocence & ignorance of the facts.
I don't believe the cartoonist's comments at all - that image of Serena had all the markings of "old-school racism" and was designed to pass judgement - not just on her behavior but as a personal attack on her as well.
I'm sick of the general public's ignorance & lousy general knowledge.
Most people with a computer have no real excuse anymore.
"Mr Google" will answer almost any question.
As for the caricature of an African-American subject ?
The problem is not the dark skin.
The problem is with the expression & facial-features so reminiscent of the deliberately hurtful "Black Mammy" stereotype used in vaudeville & TV productions ie. "The Black & White Minstrel Show" complete with black-face and white over-drawn lips.
White folks of the day thought it was hilarious and it felt "swell" to be so freely patronizing about an ethnic group who had been their slaves.
Racism is always felt more deeply by the race being attacked ( and it is an attack).
'Sorry - ignorance in our multicultural world just doesn't cut it anymore.
All I saw was Serena behaving badly, and it did not occur to me that this might be a "racist" cartoon until the storm started. If the cartoonist had depicted Serena as white, imagine the row then! Cartoonist draw characterictures of famous (and any) people and if the subjects don't like it, then it's just too bad. Someone railed that the young winner was shown with blond hair ( shown as white) but actually she DID have the ends of her hair bleached blond as shown in the photos of the day. To those roaring for blood - GET OVER IT! .