HERALD Sun cartoonist Mark Knight says he suspended his Twitter account overnight because of abuse towards his family over his cartoon of Serena Williams’ US Open tantrum.

Knight said he did it to protect his family and friends.

Australia’s finest cartoonist said while positive comments were outweighing negative, he chose to do it to stop family being abused.

Claims the account had been suspended by Twitter are wrong.

Knight has dismissed the global Twitter storm over his depiction of a tantrum-throwing Williams during the final of the US Open.

The Herald Sun’s veteran cartoonist says his portrayal was never about race or gender — rather the sporting superstar’s bad behaviour.

Knight’s take on Williams’ blow up showed the 23 Grand Slam winner spitting the dummy and stomping on her tennis racquet as the chair umpire told US Open champion Naomi Osaka in the background: “Can you just let her win.”

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media_camera Mark Knight’s cartoon.

Knight said the online hate he received was unfair as the cartoon was about her flare-ups during the final — during which the tennis champion was penalised by the umpire for coaching, smashing her racquet and abuse, and was later fined — not about racism or sexism.

“I drew this cartoon Sunday night after seeing the US Open final, and seeing the world’s best tennis player have a tantrum and thought that was interesting,” he said.

“The cartoon about Serena is about her poor behaviour on the day, not about race. The world has just gone crazy.”

media_camera Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight at his home studio following negative reaction to his cartoon. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The cartoon dominated America on Tuesday both on TV and social media, with Knight ‘trending’ on Twitter such was the debate.

Some US celebrities who vented their outrage online have audiences in the millions.

On Tuesday night, @knightcartoons had been mentioned almost 74,000 times on Twitter, including retweets — an increase of 88,900 per cent from the day before.

Mentions of @theheraldsun were also up 9000 per cent from the day before.

The keyword ‘Mark Knight’ had been mentioned about 5300 times, up 7000 per cent.

media_camera The American star was fined for coaching, racquet abuse and for verbal abuse when she accused umpire Carlos Ramos of being “a thief” during Saturday's stormy final. Picture: Timothy Clary/AFP

media_camera Serena Williams’s racquet bends from the force of the throw. Picture: Timothy Clary/AFP

Australian cartoonists backed Knight’s work on Tuesday as mainly US and overseas celebrities, politicians, sports stars, news outlets, authors and social media commentators all lined up to attack the decorated drawer.

Some labelled it as “vile imagery”, “Williams subject of an outrageous racist caricature”, “a racist cartoon portrayed one of the world’s best-conditioned athletes as a fat, angry mammy character”, “staggeringly unflattering” and the features reflected the “dehumanizing Jim Crow caricatures so common in the 19th and 20th centuries”.

Criticism of Mark Knight's Serena Williams cartoon shows the world has gone too PC & misunderstands the role of news media cartoons and satire. Poor behaviour in any sport needs to be called out. #media #cartoons #markknight @Knightcartoons @theheraldsun https://t.co/KQFuvIJp0Q pic.twitter.com/sRo3AQ1cJW — Michael Miller (@mm_newscorpaus) September 10, 2018

Australia’s finest cartoonist Mark Knight has the strongest support of his colleagues for his depiction of Serena Williams’ petulance. It’s about bad behaviour, certainly not race. The PC brigade are way off the mark...again. pic.twitter.com/CeHaoRG6gf — Peter Blunden (@PeterBlunden_) September 11, 2018

@Knightcartoons cartoon is not racist or sexist .... it rightly mocks poor behavior by a tennis legend ... Mark has the full support of everyone @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/KWMT3QahJh — damon johnston (@damonheraldsun) September 11, 2018

World’s gone mad when cartoonist is targeted for saying tennis player spat the dummy-so sick of PC BS as too many confect an issue to be outraged about-that’s what this is about with @Knightcartoons,Mark Knight’s a man of the greatest character-proud he’s in our paper https://t.co/LkvlTejoC9 — Nick Papps (@SundayHSEditor) September 11, 2018

media_camera Serena Williams smashes her racquet while playing Naomi Osaka. Picture: Kena Betancur/AFP

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Williams was fined $US17,000 for her tennis rage and multiple meltdowns.

During her outbursts throughout the match — which she lost 6-2, 6-4 — she called the umpire a “thief” and accused him of sexism claiming, male players would be let off for similar behaviour.

Her coach also admitted to coaching her from the stands — which is not allowed — but when she was penalised for that on court she denied it happened and was furious with the referee that he insinuated she was cheating.

Serena Williams fined for US Open outburst Serena Williams fined for US Open outburst

Williams’ opponent Naomi Osaka was booed on stage during the trophy presentation, robbing her of one of her greatest moments in her tennis career.

Umpires are now reportedly considering boycotting Williams’ matches in the wake of her meltdown.

There was a growing belief among officials that they were “not supported” by the USTA (US Tennis Association) and that Ramos was “thrown to the wolves for simply doing his job”, according to The Times.

Umpires have floated the idea of refusing Williams’ matches until she apologises to Ramos, the London-based newspaper reports.

Cartoonist Michael Leunig, whose works appears in The Age and other Fairfax newspapers, said he felt for Knight under this “deluge of punitive anger” and “strident hostility”.

“I saw Knight’s cartoon and was not offended or angered. I saw nothing abusive or malicious. In fact there is truth at the heart of it,” he said.

“It’s getting harder to be a cartoonist in this crazy anxious world — in this fragile angry humourless environment where leniency and understanding are in dangerous decline, and where psychic infections spread chaotically on social media with terrible consequences.”

media_camera US Open Womens Single champion Naomi Osaka of Japan stands with Serena Williams during their women's singles finals match. Picture: Timothy Clary/AFP

3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell said when he looked at the cartoon, it didn’t even cross his mind that it was racist.

“He’s sending Serena up, not because she’s black, but because she was acting like a bully and a child. And he’s right.”

Cartoonist Paul Zanetti said when he saw the online comments and hate aimed toward Knight his “jaw hit the floor”.

“All he has done as cartoonists do is tell the truth. All he did was depict her in satirical manner,” Zanetti, whose work is syndicated to News Corp and other papers said.

“How can there be so many people quick to take offence at a cartoon and that’s a default position of a lot of people to be triggered into being offended.

“It’s PC madness.”

Herald Sun editor Damon Johnston said: “A champion tennis player had a mega tantrum on the world stage, and Mark’s cartoon depicted that.

“It had nothing to do with gender or race. this was about a bad sport being mocked.”

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, rapper Nicki Minaj, comedian Kathy Griffin and Aussie basketball export Ben Simmons were among those critical of the cartoon.

aleks.devic@news.com.au

@AleksDevic

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