Australian Press Council ruled that the drawing, published by Murdoch group newspaper the Herald Sun, did not breach Australia’s press standards and instead was capturing Williams’ “on-court tantrum” at the 2018 US Open final “using satire, caricature, exaggeration and humor.”
The cartoon was published shortly after the bad-tempered final, in which Williams had a dispute with the umpire over his allegedly sexist treatment. The press watchdog received a number of complaints about the image, which drew international condemnation.
The press council said the newspaper “was depicting the moment when, in a highly animated tantrum, Ms Williams smashed a racquet and loudly abused the chair umpire, calling him a thief, a liar and threatening that he would never umpire her matches again.
“(The Herald Sun) said it wanted to capture the on-court tantrum of Ms Williams using satire, caricature, exaggeration and humor, and the cartoon intended to depict her behavior as childish by showing her spitting a pacifier out while she jumps up and down.”
