A controversial cartoon of Serena Williams published in an Australian newspaper last year did not breach media standards, a press watchdog says. The cartoon implied Serena Williams jumping over a broken racquet near a baby’s dummy in the US Open final
Critics complained that the caricature used racist and sexist stereotypes of African-American people.
The Australian Press Council noted that some had found the image “offensive”, but accepted the publisher’s defence.
In September, Williams ignited a controversy following her loss to Naomi Osaka for her on-court behavior where she accused the umpire of sexism and being a “thief”.
The Herald Sun newspaper and cartoonist Mark Knight have consistently called their depiction a comment on Williams’s
However, The press watchdog said the newspaper had “sufficient public interest in commenting on behavior and sportsmanship”.