However, the tennis champion’s husband, Alexis Ohanian has broken his silence to slam Mark Knight’s drawing as “blatantly racist and misogynistic”.
He also took aim at Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston. Johnston defended Knight at the height of the controversy 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.”
Mark Knight’s cartoon – depicting Williams’ infamous outburst at the US Open which has been widely commentated upon – was slammed in global backlash after it was published by the Australian publication earlier this week.
Knight’s cartoon has been described as ‘astonishingly racist’ and attracted criticism from the likes of rapper Nicki Minaj and author J.K Rowling.
‘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,’ Rowling shared on Twitter.
The National Association of Black Journalists in the US called it ‘repugnant on many levels’.
The only public post Serena has shared since the event is a caption less picture of herself and daughter Olympia.
