Herald Sun Editor Damon Johnston Defends Serena Williams Cartoon

From The Hot Breakfast


Article heading image for Herald Sun Editor Damon Johnston Defends Serena Williams Cartoon

Image: Herald Sun

Damon Johnston joined Triple M this morning to defend cartoonist Mark Knight following his controversial cartoon depicting tennis champion Serena Williams.

The editor of the Herald Sun said on The Hot Breakfast that the reaction had surprised him.

LISTEN TO THE CHAT HERE:

"We ran the Serena Williams cartoon in Monday's Herald Sun and there was silence. There was no local reaction at all for all of Monday," Johnston said.

"When I looked at the cartoon for the first time for the first on Sunday it didn't occur to me that this was going to be controversial.

"It wasn't until Monday evening when someone in America saw it and started... a Twitter pile-on and it became an issue.

Luke Darcy said that he found it "very hard to believe" that Johnston had no thought the cartoon would be controversial before it was published - and received backlash from celebrities and the public all over the world.

"This was a petulant, immature tantrum by an adult that should've known better," Johnston replied.

"Most of the criticism seems to be coming from the United States - as far as we can make out.

"They're seeing something in there (the cartoon) because they want to see it.

"They're seeing racism and sexism because they want to see it. In this culture of perpetual outrage and victimhood, they're trying to absolve their star's behaviour by blaming something else."

Tune into 105.1FM every weekday from 6-9AM to listen to The Hot Breakfast - or Catch Up with the entire show every morning on the Triple M App! Download on iTunes or Google Play.

11 September 2018




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