Is this racist?

No, its not.

However, its thought so by the permanently offended. its not racist, (it would be if she was depicted as white), its not sexist, its just an overpaid sports 'person' having a tantrum.

I'm not sure what racism is anymore?

I would have just seen that cartoon for what it is, namely Williams behaving like a spoilt kid.

It would never occur to me in a million years that it was possibly aimed at being racist I don't think it is btw.

Maybe I'm too old and I'm not as PC as the younger generation are these days but I thought Williams behaviour was appalling and the cartoon was merely taking the piss out of her and rightly so.

It reminded me very much of the McEnroe era where throwing tantrums were as much as trying to throw your opponent out of their rhythm and was pure gamesmanship - and was the reason for the introduction of the penalty system in tennis.

For what it's worth I don't see this as racist either. It is just a cartoon depicting somebody who is a black female. McEnroe's tantrums were definitely depicted in this way and all politicians are regularly lampooned.

Just another massive overreaction by those always looking to be offended.

It's a cartoon of a sporting icon having a temper tantrum meltdown ( which she did.). How is it racist to portray someone behaving appallingly in a sporting event as being racist?

I think it's an overreaction however Williams did make a valid point about the umpire being sexist in that game and had every right to get pissed off for giving her a game penalty. Despite the WTA agreeing with Williams that the umpire had been sexist, this cartoon is in part at least dependent on her being portrayed as a bad-tempered sore loser so in that sense it is borderline sexist for reinforcing a negative female stereotype. 
Impossible to say whether or not it is racist as we don't know if the umpire was prejudiced against Williams because she is African American or because she is a woman. Or both.

No it isn't racist and calling the umpire a thief and a cheat is not standing up for women's rights, its having a tantrum.Serena has previous for it at the US open where she threatened to kill a female line judge in 2009 and is only indulged because she rakes in far more money for Women's Tennis than anybody else does. Serena can say or do anything and won't be criticised by some of the tennis hierarchy because of the money involved.

It's simply a caricature. They're seldom flattering.

boltonbonce wrote:It's simply a caricature. They're seldom flattering.

It looks exactly like the Tina Turner spitting image puppet.

wanderlust wrote:I think it's an overreaction however Williams did make a valid point about the umpire being sexist in that game and had every right to get pissed off for giving her a game penalty. Despite the WTA agreeing with Williams that the umpire had been sexist, this cartoon is in part at least dependent on her being portrayed as a bad-tempered sore loser so in that sense it is borderline sexist for reinforcing a negative female stereotype. 
Impossible to say whether or not it is racist as we don't know if the umpire was prejudiced against Williams because she is African American or because she is a woman. Or both.

The WTA Are just as bad in this case. Her coach admitted to coaching during the game, but says they all do it. The Umpire followed the rules. It’s not his fault if others don’t. Way too much throwing around of the words Racist and Sexist nowadays. Piers Morgan made a really valid point today regarding cricket. Test match, every player male, but you have to have a player of the match, not a man of the match. How fecking ridiculous. Music awards. You have Mobo awards. I am pretty certain that if you had Mowo awards, someone would scream racist

Appalling behaviour from someone who should act as a role model. Seems as if the sexist claim is designed to switch attention from her tantrum on court. (A tactic learnt from Trump??)

Has similar on-court behaviour from Aussie lout, Nick Kyrgios, resulted in the same level of penalty? I think this is her (diversionary) point. 
It comes after one umpire recently chose to completely ignore the rules and climbed down from his chair to try to calm and reason with an obnoxious male player having a tantrum which the umpire felt was spoiling the game.  Now, that IS out of order and undermines those umpires simply following the regulations properly.

What I find odd about the cartoon is that the artist has "whitewashed" the colour of the skin and hair of the umpire and of the Japanese Osaka.....which does lend itself to racist questions in the minds of those who are looking for such things.

Yes it is as it portrays the umpire as white, when in fact he is Hispanic, and Serena's opponent is from far east and is shown as white with blonde hair instead of yellow with slightly darker hair.

Serena's caricature is spot on, including the dummy on the floor, that she spat out.

No, she's a thug and a bully and she had a tantrum because a little girl was giving her a good twatting the Williams sisters have a long record of intimidation. Well it's over now.

Her lack of respect for the winner was the most annoying part of the incident.

Both women in the final are black, yet Osaka whose father is Hatian and as black they come, became a slim white blonde and Serena was pictured in the most stereotypical caricature in the style of the racist cartoons of the past. In a time where racism is rearing its ugly head more and more, it is wise to err on the side of caution. This cartoonist chose not to.

Keegan wrote:Both women in the final are black, yet Osaka whose father is Hatian and as black they come, became a slim white blonde and Serena was pictured in the most stereotypical caricature in the style of the racist cartoons of the past. In a time where racism is rearing its ugly head more and more, it is wise to err on the side of caution. This cartoonist chose not to.

Good for him.

Thank god we have middle aged white men around to tell a black woman what is and isn’t racist.

Looks like cultural appropriation to me.