The drawing, which appeared in the country’s Herald Sun last year after the American’s controversial loss to Naomi Osaka in the US Open final, drew global criticism and was branded racist.
The picture shows the six-time US champion with her mouth open wide and her fists clenched, jumping above a broken tennis racket with a baby’s dummy discarded on the ground.
The cartoon was widely criticised as racist, but was merely ‘a sporting cartoon,’ the council said
“Specifically, concern was expressed that the cartoon depicted Ms Williams with large lips, a broad flat nose, a wild afro styled ponytail hairstyle different to that worn by Ms Williams during the match and positioned in an ape-like pose,” the watchdog said.
But the drawing was “only intended to be a ‘sporting cartoon’ for the publication’s local readership,” the council said, while admitting it had received complaints from people who believed it was racist and sexist.
In an adjudication released on Monday, the Australian Press Council said there was “a sufficient public interest” in commenting on sportsmanship during a “significant dispute” between a high-profile tennis player and an umpire at the US Open final.
“The council considers that the cartoon uses exaggeration and absurdity to make its point but accepts the publisher’s claim that it does not depict Ms Williams as an ape, rather showing her as ‘spitting the dummy’, a non-racist caricature familiar to most Australian readers,” it said.
It added: “The council does not consider that the publication failed to take reasonable steps to avoid causing substantial offence, distress or prejudice, without sufficient justification in the public interest.
“Accordingly the council concludes that its Standards of Practice were not breached.”
The cartoon provoked fierce criticism in the US, where the National Association of Black Journalists called it “repugnant on many levels” while the Washington Post said it reflected “dehumanising” caricatures from America’s racist past.
She hotly denied what amounts to cheating and, after smashing a racket, was docked a point and later a whole game.
Mr Knight said he was “very happy” with the ruling, telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “I will not be changing the way I draw cartoons because I think I’m a very free and fair cartoonist and I accept issues on their merits and draw them as such.”
