The Serena cartoon — too much, too far?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loved the pacifier. Best part of the cartoon.

I don’t think the other woman in the cartoon is necessarily Osaka. I think it depicts a generic opponent because this is not the first (and possibly not the last) time Serena has had a melt down on the court.

I don’t think it is racist at all. It is a caricature and captured her features.

Stop. It is very racist, I don't see how anyone can miss that. Plenty of good posts above explaining the history of Jim Crow era depictions of people who are black.

And why, if you are drawing a cartoon immediately after a particular event, would you draw a generic opponent? That makes no sense in this context.

And the pacifier allows the artist to add misogyny to the racism by infantilzing his subject. Can't have adult women standing up for themselves and demanding fair treatment, now, can we?

+1

[Anonymous]

“Well done reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman to a faceless prop.”
JK Rowling.

“The racist Serena cartoon is straight out of 1910”
CNN Editorial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you lived under a rock but still knew 2 things about Osaka, you’d know her parents are Japanese/Black (may have known Haitian). To come here and defend the cartoon on the basis that “you thought she was Hawaiian” is idiotic. Goodbye.

I had no idea who Osaka was until this incident. I really don't watch much in the way of tennis these days.

I clicked on a thread to find out why Serena was being called a baby and bully and that is when I first heard of what happened. I've since watched a video of her meltdown so I'm aware of what happened. You don't need to be an expert on tennis to see that Serena had a bad day. Osaka's heritage has nothing to do with it although people are sure trying to make it an issue...

If you actually watched tennis you would know that what happened with serena has happened with dozens and dozens of men but you don't know about that because when men in tennis do what Serena did... it's not in the news because it is considered strong and passionate ... never described as a meltdown.

I watch other sports like football and men get benched and their teams get penalized if they behave like that.

I remember McEnroe being penalized and made of fun of when he acted like a big baby, too.

If men are regularly behaving like Serena did w/o being penalized then the rules need better enforcement. It does not mean that what Serena did was right or that she should not have been called out for it.

If somebody pulled that crap in figure skating they would never skate in front of the judges again.

Football players do not get benched for getting in the face of the referee, nor do they get fined. You can google Tom Brady yells at ref and watch video after video after video.

Yes. They either need to enforce the rules for men or treat women the same. Nobody is asking for special treatment, people are asking that the rules be the same.

Have you ever seen a hockey game?

If Tom Brady screamed at a referee and then walked onto the field and threw his helmet he would most definitely get penalized.

He has and he didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems as if umpires are considering boycotting any matches Serena plays in the future.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2018/09/12/tennis-umpires-reportedly-considering-boycott-of-serena-williams-matches/?utm_term=.1b4f51f22cd7

Good hire some unbiased umps.

[Anonymous]

Her outbursts were straight out of Temper Tantrum Toddlers. As for her her repeated lying... Where, oh where did that come from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

One week earlier:

But did they award a lot of runs to the opposing team?

No, I didn't think so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Well done reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman to a faceless prop.”
JK Rowling.

“The racist Serena cartoon is straight out of 1910”
CNN Editorial.

“Racism 101”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Osaka's hair is kinky and black. Her ponytail is blond but still kinky. Osaka is not a blond. She has a headful of Black hair, only her ponytail is blond.

She is not tanned. She is not the spawn of George Hamilton.

She is Japanese and Hawaiian. She has dark skin (from perhaps black genes). She does not have the complexion of a tanned white woman or a fair Japanese woman. She however identifies as Japanese and not White.

Japanese (mother) and Haitian (father)

Her hair, complexion, mouth and nose clearly show she has black genes.

She looks like a black Asian to me. More black than Asian actually

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Osaka's hair is kinky and black. Her ponytail is blond but still kinky. Osaka is not a blond. She has a headful of Black hair, only her ponytail is blond.

She is not tanned. She is not the spawn of George Hamilton.

She is Japanese and Hawaiian. She has dark skin (from perhaps black genes). She does not have the complexion of a tanned white woman or a fair Japanese woman. She however identifies as Japanese and not White.

Japanese (mother) and Haitian (father)

Her hair, complexion, mouth and nose clearly show she has black genes.

She looks like a black Asian to me. More black than Asian actually

Only a racist cares. Actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, I thought it was a fairly good likeness. Cartoons are satire.....everybody needs to calm down.

Ok so why depict Osaka as white?

I see a woman with brown skin in that cartoon, and her hair is dyed blonde in real life.

[Anonymous]

I think the cartoon's artist penned a good likeness of Serena. I think cartoons are satire and should be treated as such. I think those babbling on about racism and sexism are imbeciles who are about one degree removed from the taliban in their lack of nuance and general stupidity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Well done reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman to a faceless prop.”
JK Rowling.

“The racist Serena cartoon is straight out of 1910”
CNN Editorial.

“Racism 101: Cartoon depicts Williams as an angry black woman and Osaka as a white blonde”
yahoo news

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love all the comments claiming Osaka is being depicted as white and blonde when A) her hair is dyed blonde IRL and B) the cartoonist used THE EXACT SAME SHADE OF BROWN for her as he did in his depiction of Williams.

OMG, I didn't even realize that. I had to go back and look at the cartoon again and you're right - the two tennis players have the same color skin in the drawing. It's weird that I (and a lot of others) are "seeing" white skin on the blonde tennis player and dark skin on the Serena player yet they are the same shade. Those calling this racist: what are your thoughts on that?

No they are not. “Serena” has dark brown shading all over her. The other tennis player does not

Yes, the "Serena" character clearly has darker brown shading all over, while the "Osaka" character has no dark brown shading and has very straight, very blond hair.

And strange that the chair umpire in the cartoon is asking the Osaka character to "let" Serena win, when the umpire actually awarded an extra point and then a whole game to Osaka. If you saw that cartoon without having seen the match, you might have thought the umpire had been unfairly favoring Osaka over Serena, when nothing could be further from the truth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let's put the potential racist implications aside for a moment - for whatever reason that's all y'all wanna talk about - and examine something else...SEXISM.

Billie Jean King, a tennis legend and equal rights advocate tweeted...
"When a woman is emotional, she's "hysterical" and she's penalized for it. When a man does the same, he's "outspoken" & and there are no repercussions. Thank you, Serena Williams, for calling out this double standard. More voices are needed to do the same"

Anybody agree?

I will admit I have said worse and not gotten penalized. And I’ve also been given a “soft warning” by the ump where they tell you knock it off or I will have to give you a violation. He should have at least given her that courtesy. Sad to mar a well played final that way.
— James Blake (@JRBlake) September 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/JRBlake/status/1038619979938189313?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

I’ve regrettably said worse and I’ve never gotten a game penalty
— andyroddick (@andyroddick) September 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/andyroddick/status/1038642213427789826?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

Disagree
People hated McEnroe, but maybe you all are too young to know about him.

[Anonymous]

Honestly her reactions on court were so out of control. I was embarrassed for her and her family. She was clearly furious at herself that she was being showed up big time by a new younger powerhouse fresh and hungry for her first big win.

Serena owes every single spectator of tennis a big apology. There is nothing wrong with her message it was her delivery. She looked like an adult brat.