Nicki Minaj has slammed Australian cartoonist Mark Knight over his controversial depiction of tennis champion Serena Williams’ recent loss at the US Open Final.
Speaking on the latest episode of her Beats 1 show ‘Queen Radio’, Minaj awarded Knight a ‘Cocksucker Of The Day Award’ for his Herald Sun cartoon of Williams, which has faced accusations of racism and sexism.
https://twitter.com/Knightcartoons/status/1039017329030393856
“Every time a black woman says they don’t agree with something going on in their own career, job, workplace, they get labelled as angry. They get labelled as a troublemaker or having a meltdown,” Minaj said.
“Black women are no longer allowed to say that they are being unfairly treated without being told that they’re on drugs, that they’re having a meltdown, that they’re a sore loser, that they’re bitter, miserable. Give me a fucking break. This needs to stop.”
Minaj went on to name Knight and read his Twitter handle out to listeners, but maintained that she didn’t want to “tear” Knight down.
“Our culture and our community loves this woman’s body, by the way,” she said.
“You drew this woman trying to be funny or looking like you were trying to make fun of her or some shit like, are you out of your fucking mind?
“I am all for people having freedom, I’m not getting on him in terms of saying you’re not allowed to express yourself, but I just feel like you went out of your way to make her look badly, physically badly, and this is a sexy woman.
“We are not allowing this done to our own anymore, it has to stop. She demonstrated grace. She demonstrated passion. There is a difference between passion and a fucking ‘meltdown’. Why the fuck is everyone allowed to be passionate but black women? Why? Give me a break.
“I just want to know why did you… draw a picture of this legend in our community, making her look like this? Like some sort of an animal having a temper tantrum.”
Knight has defended his cartoon in an interview with the ABC, in which he claimed the artwork isn’t racist or sexist.
“I saw the world number one tennis player have a huge hissy fit and spit the dummy. That’s what the cartoon was about, her poor behaviour on the court,” he said.
“I’m not targeting Serena. I mean, Serena is a champion.
“I drew her as an African-American woman. She’s powerfully built. She wears these outrageous costumes when she plays tennis. She’s interesting to draw. I drew her as she is, as an African-American woman.
“So, this whole business that I’m some sort of racist, calling on racial cartoons from the past, it’s just made up. It’s not there.”
Nicki Minaj will return to Australia in 2019 to perform at FOMO Festival.
Stream her Beats 1 segment about Mark Knight, here.
