Who Magazine confuses famous women of colour, again
Who Magazine has bungled a feature about women who are due to turn 40 in 2020, by publishing a photo of 15-year-old Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff instead of seven-time grand slam singles winner Venus Williams.
It is the second time the magazine has been in the spotlight for confusing women of colour this year, after an interview with supermodel Adut Akech was accompanied by a photo of a different model, Flavia Lazarus.
Williams (left) and Gauff (right)
At the time, Akech said she felt like her entire race had been disrespected.
“It goes to show that people are very ignorant and narrow-minded that they think every black girl or African people looks the same. I feel as though this would’ve not happened to a white model,” she wrote on Instagram.
“I want this to be somewhat of a wake-up call to people within the industry it’s not OK and you need to do better. Big publications need to make sure that they fact check things before publishing them especially when its real stories and interviews and not just some made up rumours. To those who work at shows and shoots it’s important that you don’t mix up models names. Australia you’ve a lot of work to do and you’ve got to do better and that goes to the rest of the industry,” she continued.
The mistake featuring Gauff instead of Williams occurred in the 6 January, 2020 edition, out now.
The image of Gauff in Who Magazine (Click to enlarge)
Williams will turn 40 on 17 June, while Gauff will turn 16 on 13 March.
The error is in the latest edition of Who Magazine
A Pacific Magazines spokesperson apologised for the error.
“Who apologises for the incorrect image that appeared in this week’s magazine,” the spokesperson told Mumbrella.
“We sincerely apologise to Venus Williams, Cori ‘Coco’ Gauff and anyone else affected by this mistake.”
Venus Williams’ sister, Serena, has also been the centre of a racist storm in the Australian media.
In September last year, Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight published a cartoon of Serena throwing a tantrum on the tennis court.
Last year’s ‘racist’ Serena Williams cartoon in the Herald Sun
The cartoon referenced an incident at the US Open women’s final, in which Williams clashed with the umpire, Carlos Ramos, calling him a thief and a liar, and accusing him of sexism, when he issued her with code violations.
Knight’s cartoon was criticised for drawing on racist and sexist tropes, reducing 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams to an angry child, and making Osaka a “faceless prop”. It was also said to draw on a long and damaging history of racist caricature.
News Corp’s local executive chairman, Michael Miller, however, said the “world has gone too PC [politically correct]”, while the Herald Sun’s editor at the time, Damon Johnston, said criticism of Williams, and thus the cartoon itself, had nothing to do with gender or race.
“A champion tennis player had a mega tantrum on the world stage, and Mark’s cartoon depicted that,” he said.
The cartoonist, Knight, said the world had gone crazy.
“I tried to reply to these people [critics on social media] but they just don’t listen,” he told the News Corp press.
“On any given day you are a hero and on any given day you are a pariah. And you just have to live with it.”
Australia’s press watchdog, the Australian Press Council (APC) ultimately cleared the cartoon’s publisher, News Corp, of any wrongdoing.
The APC accepted the News Corp’s claim it did not depict Williams as an ape, but rather showed her as ‘spitting the dummy’ – “a non-racist caricature familiar to most Australian readers”.
“Nonetheless, the Council acknowledges that some readers found the cartoon offensive,” it said in its ruling. “However, the Council also accepts that there was a sufficient public interest in commenting on behaviour and sportsmanship during a significant dispute between a tennis player with a globally high profile and an umpire at the US Open final.”
The publisher of Who Magazine, Pacific Magazines, is currently stalled in its ambitions to come together with Bauer Media, with the competition watchdog, the ACCC, expressing concerns that the deal would compromise content quality.
It’s always amazing to note that people fact check publications like Who when they are so full of gossip and observational judgements. I can’t imagine how offensive it can be alongside some unsourced royal rumour. But racism is alive and thriving in Australia, make no mistake.
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Just throwing this out there
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2011/aug/15/people-other-races-look-alike
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Once is awful, twice is a repeated racist decision. How many white people have they mixed up?
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No doubt…. read any NewsCorp publication on any given day for further examples of everyday racism!
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This is an absolute disgrace. The editor needs to be held accountable. There’s no excuse for this kind of ‘error’.. The Adut farce should have kept them on their toes.
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