Famous Tennis champ, Serena Williams‘ husband Alexis Ohanian Sr has broken his silence over the contentious cartoon of his wife that was drawn by Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight after her outburst at the US Open.
‘It’s blatantly racist and misogynistic’, he said.
In the cartoon, the tennis legend was illustrated as a big fat baby angrily jumping on her smashed racket.
‘I am truly perplexed to learn this editor of the Australian newspaper behind the blatantly racist and misogynistic cartoon of my wife is a “Male Champion of Change”,’ he said .
However, Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston has since defended the cartoon saying:
‘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’ .
As much as I abhor the cartoon depicting Serena, it stands to reason that as an icon of tennis, she needs to rein in her brickbats with umpires. It’s needless to say that she is a role model and self control is a hallmark of worthy champions. Nonetheless, Serena is an all time great and will be viewed kindly for bringing such joy to the game of tennis.