Newspaper doubles down with front page response to Serena Williams cartoon critics

Serena Williams in action during the US Open final. Photo / AP

If you thought the Herald Sun was going to back down, guess again.

The Melbourne newspaper behind a controversial cartoon which depicted Serena Williams' tantrum during the US Open women's final has responded to critics with an extraordinary front page.

Cartoonist Mark Knight created international headlines on Tuesday after his drawing of Williams, which showed her stomping on her racket, was criticised by some as racist because of the way he drew the 23-time grand slam winner's lips and hair.

Knight, and his employer, launched an immediate defence, arguing it was a depiction of the tennis star's behaviour and had nothing to do with race.

They doubled down in Wednesday's newspaper, printing a cover with the headline "Welcome to PC World", that featured several of Knight's cartoons with reasons why they could also be branded offensive.

Previous Knight cartoons of Australian politicians and world leaders fill the page, including former prime minister Tony Abbott depicted as Hannibal Lecter with the caption "Banned: Big ears, cannibal mask," and a topless Kim Jong-un with the words "Blocked: Belly fat, Asian stereotype."

Knight's widely condemned cartoon depicting "the world's greatest tennis player spit the dummy" appears in the foreground with the caption: "Vetoed: Large hair and lips, too angry."

"If the self-apointed censors of Mark Knight get their way on his Serena Williams cartoon, our new politically correct life will be very dull indeed," the subhead reads.

Knight, who posted his original cartoon to social media and suffered a horrible backlash which included death threats aimed at him and his family, appears to have deactivated his Twitter account.

Tomorrow's @theheraldsun front page tonight #auspol #springst pic.twitter.com/2nuLbKppku

— Damon Johnston (@damonTheOz) September 11, 2018