Update 12/09: The Herald Sun newspaper has defended its decision to publish a controversial cartoon of Serena Williams by reprinting the image on its front page.
After critics around the world condemned Mark Knight's depiction of the tennis player as racist and sexist, the cover featured a range of Mark Knight's drawings under the headline: 'Welcome to PC world'.
The paper wrote: '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 cover has now sparked further debate over the image. 'This is the best articulation of my feelings on the notion of PC that I have seen. Well done,' a Twitter user commented.
However, others have expressed their outrage. 'I'm genuinely embarrassed for you,' one woman wrote. 'As if you couldn’t sink any lower,' said another.
Knight has denied suggestions his depiction of Williams was racist. Following the dispute, he appears to have suspended his Twitter account.
Original story 11/09: Days after the controversial U.S. Open women's final, a cartoonist has faced criticism for his interpretation of Serena Williams at the competition.
Mark Knight's drawing, which was published in Australian newspaper the Herald Sun on Monday, portrayed the tennis superstar throwing a tantrum next to a smashed racket and a baby's dummy during the final against the tournament winner, Naomi Osaka.
Osaka is pictured talking to the umpire, who asks 'can't you just let her win?' and as many commenters have pointed out, the Japanese and Haitian tennis star is depicted as white with blonde hair.
The image, which was shared by Knight on Sunday, has been slammed by many on social media, including JK Rowling and American civil rights activist the Rev Jesse Jackson, plus several female sports journalists and broadcasters.
It comes after after male tennis pros James Blake and Andy Roddick backed Williams in the match, which has left chair umpire Carlos Ramos in hot water after making questionable calls against the 23-time grand slam winner.
The Harry Potter author re-tweeted the cartoon with the caption: '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.' Her tweet has received over 126,000 likes since she posted it on Monday.
Anna Kessel, sports writer for The Guardian, tweeted: 'Whatever you think of the Serena Williams situation, I think we can all agree that this cartoon is disgusting. Erasing Naomi Osaka’s blackness alongside a grossly racialised caricature of Serena, invoking racist stereotypes, is obscene.'
American TV producer Shonda Rhimes added: 'The racist cartoon is just one thing too many.'
In response to the backlash, Knight told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (via BBC News): 'The cartoon was just about Serena on the day having a tantrum. That's basically it.'
When a female sportswriter suggested he wouldn't draw a similar image of a man, Knight tweeted his cartoon of Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios, adding: 'Don't bring gender into it when it's all about behaviour.'
The executive chairman of News Corp Australia, Michael Miller, has defended Knight, saying the criticism of his cartoon 'shows the world has gone too PC'.
Since the publication of the sketch, The National Association of Black Journalists has issued a statement describing the image as 'repugnant' on many levels.
'The racist cartoon of Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka by Mark Knight of the Herald Sun is repugnant on many levels,' the association said.
'The Sept. 10 cartoon not only exudes racist, sexist caricatures of both women, but Williams' depiction is unnecessarily sambo-like. The art of editorial cartooning is a visual dialogue on the issues of the day, yet this cartoon grossly inaccurately depicts two women of colour at the US Open, one of the grandest stages of professional sports.'
