Nearly six months after a cartoon mocking Serena Williams unleashed immediate international rebuke, with critics calling it a racist Jim-Crow-era-like rendering of the sports star, the Australian Press Council weighed in on Monday, defending the image.

The cartoon, published last September in Australia’s The Herald Sun following Serena Williams’ stinging U.S. Open loss to Naomi Osaka of Japan, shows Williams in mid-tantrum and stamping on her tennis racket. The umpire is shown asking Osaka, “Can you just let her win?”

The Council said the cartoon “uses exaggeration and absurdity to make its point but accepts the publisher’s claim that it does not depict Ms Williams as an ape, rather showing her as ‘spitting the dummy’, a non-racist caricature familiar to most Australian readers.” (A “dummy” is an Australian term for a pacifier, which was drawn lying alongside Williams’ racket on the ground.)

The Council, a watchdog group responsible for promoting good media practice standards in Australia, said it “accepts that the cartoon was illustrated in response to the events that occurred at the US Open final.”

On Sept. 8, 2018, Williams was playing the Grand Slam final against an opponent 16 years her junior, when in the second set, the chair umpire determined Williams’ coach was directing her from the sidelines and called a code violation.

Williams protested. “I don’t cheat to win,” she told the ump, Carlos Ramos. “I’d rather lose.”

As the game continued and Williams grew more frustrated, she slammed her racket onto the court, bending it. It was her second violation, and Osaka automatically got a point.

Visibly upset, Williams went on to confront Ramos and demand an apology, calling him a “liar” and a “thief.”

“You will never, ever, ever be on another court of mine as long as you live,” she told him. Williams was given a third code violation.

Osaka ultimately won — becoming the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam title — but there was little joy evinced at a game that saw both players in tears at points and the crowd jeering the trophy ceremony. Williams was fined $17,000.

Williams, a winner of nearly two dozen Grand Slam titles, and her defenders have pointed to what they say is a double standard, whereby male players can get away with on-court outbursts for which female players are likelier to be called out. Williams’ coach later said he was trying to guide her from the sidelines, but said it is a common practice that is rarely penalized.

London-based writer Tobi Oredein told NPR’s Rachel Martin that what happened was not only about sexism but also racism.

“At the heart of ‘misogynoir’ — because it only affects black women — is a caricature of the angry, black woman,” she said. “And it dehumanizes us, and it stops us showing emotion.”

Mark Knight, who penned the cartoon, told the Herald Sun, he was inspired to draw the cartoon when he saw “the world’s best tennis player have a tantrum and thought that was interesting.”

The Herald Sun has stood by Knight, even as critics have said there is no getting around the stereotypical depictions in the drawing.

The National Association of Black Journalists called the cartoon “repugnant on many levels. The Sept. 10 cartoon not only exudes racist, sexist caricatures of both women, but Williams’ depiction is unnecessarily sambo-like,” a reference to the racist Jim Crow caricatures popularized in the 19th century.

Knight defended his rendering of Williams. “I drew her as an African American woman,” he said in a video published on the Herald Sun’s web site. “She’s powerfully built. She wears these outrageous costumes when she plays tennis. She is interesting to draw.”

“This whole business that I’m some sort of racist calling on racial cartoons from the past — it’s just made up,” Knight said. “The cartoon was about her behavior on the day.”

Knight said he had to suspend his Twitter account because of the onslaught he faced after the cartoon was published.

He was also criticized for his rendering of Osaka. Oredein said he “whitewashed” the player, who is of Japanese and Haitian descent. Osaka “was seen as heroic and good and within her place,” Oredein said. “And she had blonde hair, and it was straight.”

In its ruling, the Australian Press Council said it had considered complaints about how the women were depicted and “that the cartoon should be considered in the context of the history of caricatures based on race and historical racist depictions of African Americans. “

Nevertheless, the Council said it found the publication did not fail “to take reasonable steps to avoid causing substantial offence, distress or prejudice, without sufficient justification in the public interest,” and so it did not breach the Council’s standards of practice.

Oredein said the cartoon embodies a wider problem in the industry, “that black women and their talents, especially in sports, are treated with suspicion.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Updated at 5:46 p.m. ET

The Florida state attorney’s office in Palm Beach says New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has been charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution, days after police alleged surveillance video had caught Kraft during two visits to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Fla.

State Attorney Dave Aronberg said at a news conference Monday that Kraft, a resident of Massachusetts who also has a home in Palm Beach, is among 25 people facing first-degree misdemeanor charges of soliciting another to commit prostitution.

As for potential penalties, Aronberg said the charge potentially carries a prison sentence of up to one year, along with “mandatory 100 hours of community service, a mandatory $5,000 fine, and a mandatory class on the dangers of prostitution and human trafficking.”

The police investigation into the spa was aimed at stopping human trafficking, which Aronberg equated to “modern day slavery” and called an “evil in our midst.”

Officials will send Kraft a summons about the charge, the state attorney said. He also said all of the cases will be handled in the same way.

“No one gets any special justice in Palm Beach County,” Aronberg said. He later added that none of the alleged “johns” were targeted, saying they come from “all walks of life — there’s rich [and] poor, there’s young and old.”

The women who worked at the spa were victims of a criminal enterprise who deserve the government’s help, Aronberg said. While he didn’t provide new details about how the women who worked at the Jupiter spa arrived in the U.S., the state attorney described how human traffickers often lure women to come to the U.S. for the promise of a better life, but instead force them into becoming sex workers.

Kraft and the other men, including former Citigroup President and COO John Havens, and Wall Street financier John Childs, were snared in a sting operation that targeted the strip-mall massage parlor and spa — part of a broader investigation into what officials allege is a system of human trafficking and money-laundering.

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder, whose office opened the investigation that led to more than 300 arrest warrants across Florida counties, told NPR’s All Things Considered the sting was launched after receiving a tip about one of the illicit businesses.

A health care worker visiting one of the day spas noticed suitcases in one of the massage parlors and other indicators that some of the women might be living in the storefront business, Snyder said. Eventually, officials discovered that six to eight women were living in the small commercial space at any given time.

“They were staying inside the massage parlor for 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Snyder explained, adding that the women, most of whom do not speak English, “were working seven days a week.”

He said the women cooked food on hot plates and slept on the same massage tables where they were forced to provide sexual services for eight to 15 men per day.

A Chinese woman currently in protective custody has provided grim details about how some of the women ended up working there.

She told investigators she was offered a job “making a lot of money” in an American nail salon, Snyder said. “And before she knew it she came here and found herself in the sex trafficking industry in massage parlors.”

She did not speak out because she feared her family in China would be put at risk if she cooperated with law enforcement.

In other cases, he said, women are trafficked into the country with their children and forced into making a horrible bargain with their captors: Engage in sex work in exchange for the well-being of their children.

“There are coercion points that keep them in bondage and the person with the key is not the trafficker. It’s the men who go into these parlors and avail themselves of this human misery,” Snyder told NPR. “I think they are monsters.”

The Martin County probe quickly led to a multi-jurisdictional investigation in Indian River County — where billionaire Childs and three law enforcement officers were snagged — and Palm Beach County, where Kraft and Havens were charged.

Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr said in a press conference on Friday that there is video evidence of the criminal acts “for all of the individuals being charged,” including Kraft.

“We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity,” a spokesman for The Kraft Group told NPR Friday in a statement about the case. “Because it is a judicial matter, we will not be commenting further.”

Jupiter police raided the Orchids of Asia spa early last week, Kerr said at a news conference Friday. In addition to Jupiter, the coordinated police operation targeted businesses in Martin County and Indian River County. The Jupiter raid came after police collected video evidence from cameras hidden inside the facility.

“We’re as equally stunned as everybody else,” Kerr said of the high-profile suspects who now faced solicitation charges.

Kraft’s is not the only boldface name among the spa’s alleged clients. Also on the list is Citigroup’s former president and chief operation officer John Havens.

The spa charges $59 for a half-hour treatment and $79 for a full hour, Detective Andrew Sharp said on Friday. When Sharp was asked if there is video evidence of Kraft in the massage parlor room receiving alleged sex acts, he replied, “The answer to that is yes.”

In addition to seeking charges against men who visited the spa, Jupiter police also arrested its owner, Hua Zhang, and its manager, Lei Wang.

Kraft, 77, has a net worth that’s estimated at some $6.6 billion. He was recently ranked No. 79 on Forbes magazine’s list of the wealthiest people in the U.S. Most famously, Kraft has turned the Patriots into a dynasty, winning multiple Super Bowl titles since its first championship in 2002. He acquired the franchise in 1994.

Childs, founder of private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates, was among 165 people charged by the Vero Beach Police Department and whose photo was released on the police website.

“I have received no contact by the police department about this charge,” he told Bloomberg on Friday. “The accusation of solicitation of prostitution is totally false. I have retained a lawyer.”

A man who answered the listed phone number for Havens told the news outlet: “I have no idea what you are talking about,” when asked about the charges.

In addition to the criminal charge in Florida, Kraft also faces the possibility that the NFL could take action against him.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said on Friday that the NFL is “aware” of the allegations and is monitoring the case. The NFL’s personal conduct policy explicitly prohibits sex offenses — and the rules apply to everyone in the league, McCarthy said.

The policy also seeks to impose a higher order of responsibility for one’s actions than simply avoiding being found guilty by the justice system.

On Monday, the NFL issued an updated statement saying that it is “seeking a full understanding of the facts,” and pledging to “take appropriate action as warranted based on the facts.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

They play soccer in a disputed Himalayan valley prone to car bombs, strikes and heavy snow. Soldiers with machine guns patrol their home stadium. Players sometimes have to arrive at practice three hours early to avoid police curfews. Their team is less than three years old, with a budget that’s one-tenth that of some of their competitors.

Now, against all odds, Real Kashmir Football Club, from Indian-controlled Kashmir, is tantalizingly close to winning India’s top professional soccer title. They’ve been flitting back and forth between first, second and third place, and the season ends in early March.

“We’re the only club in India that has sold-out stadiums at almost every game,” says the team’s co-founder Shamim Mehraj. “What we have done is give people some hope in a place that has actually been taken down by conflict and violence for the past 60 years. It’s helping this place heal.”

Kashmir’s recent history has been chaotic. It has seen three wars between India and Pakistan and is the site of a decades-long separatist insurgency that Indian forces have often dealt with violently. The valley is part of Hindu-majority India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir.

A natural disaster helped give birth to this soccer team. In 2014, the Kashmir Valley suffered devastating floods. Hundreds of people were killed. Schools were closed, and young people spilled out onto the streets of Mehraj’s hometown Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir and one of the largest cities in the valley.

One evening, Mehraj and a friend had an idea.

“We used to go for evening walks. We would see a lot of kids hanging around doing nothing, and I had been a footballer myself. That’s when I thought, ‘Why don’t I get some balls and at least give these kids something to do?'” recalls Mehraj, 38. He had played for his college team in New Delhi, and for his state in amateur soccer tournaments.

Mehraj, who is Muslim, and his Hindu friend Sandeep Chattoo, 52, got friends and neighbors to pitch in and buy 1,000 soccer balls, which they handed out to flood victims. But why stop there? In March 2016, they started a team.

Enlarge this image

Mahak Farooq (center), 24, watches her brother Danish Farooq, who plays midfield for Real Kashmir, alongside 12-year-old Urooj Ayyub Bhat (left), a local boy who’s one of the team’s most loyal fans and a fixture at home games.

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

They applied for the team to compete in India’s I-League 2nd Division — the pro soccer equivalent of baseball’s minor leagues. Mehraj and Chattoo invested their own money to pay players’ salaries. They also hired a Scottish former player, David Robertson, who had been coaching a professional soccer team in Phoenix, Arizona, to coach Real Kashmir, a.k.a. the “Snow Leopards.”

Robertson had never been to India, and admits he probably couldn’t have placed Kashmir on a map.

“All I ever saw was TV shows that showed it’s 90 degrees — it’s hot in India! But I arrived here and the next day, it was snowing,” says Robertson, 50, now in his third season as Real Kashmir’s coach. “There was no Internet, the electricity was out, and I just thought, ‘I want to go home.'”

Mehraj invited Robertson over to his family’s house, gave him a hot water bottle and some home-cooked Kashmiri food — and convinced him to stay. Since then, Robertson has recruited his own son, Mason Robertson, 24, to play for Real Kashmir. By the end of the 2017-2018 season, several Robertson relatives were in the stands at the team’s home stadium in Srinagar, to watch Real Kashmir win the 2nd Division title.

This season, the team was promoted to the I-League’s top division, the first soccer team from Kashmir ever to qualify. (There is one other Kashmiri pro soccer team, Lone Star Kashmir FC, which plays in the I-League’s 2nd Division). In October, Real Kashmir signed a lucrative sponsorship deal with the sports giant Adidas. The brand features prominently on team uniforms and advertisements, and helps pay the salaries Mehraj and Chattoo had initially paid from their own pockets.

Now the team is neck-and-neck with Chennai City FC and East Bengal FC for the top title in Indian professional soccer. (Besides the I-League, India also has another pro soccer league called the Indian Super League, or ISL, but the I-League’s top division is considered the most competitive.)

Enlarge this image

Fans braved sleet and snow to watch Real Kashmir play a home game on Feb. 6 in Srinagar.

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

“I never did think we would go this far,” Mehraj tells NPR, as he looks out over the turf at Real Kashmir’s home stadium.

There are constant reminders of the violence. On Feb. 14, a suicide car bomber killed dozens of Indian security forces on a main highway on the outskirts of Srinagar, where Real Kashmir plays home games. Curfews were imposed in the aftermath. The I-League Division 1 reigning champions Minerva Punjab FC, who were supposed to travel to Srinagar for a match four days later, refused to show up, citing safety concerns.

In Srinagar’s old quarter, the Muslim call to prayer reverberates through a warren of lanes sprayed with militant graffiti saying “India Go Home” and “Free Kashmir,” with the names of Kashmiri militants who have been killed in fighting. Kashmir’s 21 percent unemployment rate is triple that of the rest of India and militant groups recruit from the ranks of young, idle Kashmiri men.

Soccer “keeps him away from that,” says Ishfaq Hussain, 52, a former professional cricket player whose son Muhammad Hammad plays center-back for Real Kashmir. “He thinks always about when to play, when to practice. He’s got no time to join politics or go shouting or pelleting stones.”

Hammad, 21, often has to circumvent police curfews to make it to morning soccer practice.

Enlarge this image

Muhammad Hammad, 21, kicks a soccer ball outside his family home in Srinagar. Hammad plays center-back for Real Kashmir as it vies for the top title in Indian professional soccer.

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

“If the practice is at 11 o’clock, I have to leave home at 8 or 7 a.m. because there will be curfew around the city and you are not able to move around,” says Hammad. “The conditions here, you get much more motivation to achieve something. I have struggled a lot. These things also motivate you.”

When NPR visited Hammad at his parents’ home, his mother Mahjabeen, 46, got choked up describing how proud she is to watch her son play professional soccer. She has a giant flat-screen TV mounted on the wall of her living room to watch all of her son’s games. She describes how neighborhood children constantly ring their doorbell, hoping for a chance to kick around a soccer ball with Hammad.

His teammates include fellow Kashmiris and recruits from Africa, Europe and across India — including Muslims, Hindus, Christians and atheists.

Mehraj says he can’t manufacture T-shirts, stickers and banners fast enough to keep up with fans’ demand.

Enlarge this image

Muhammad Hammad (right), 21, who plays center-back for Real Kashmir, sits at home with his mother Mahjabeen.

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Furkan Latif Khan/NPR

At a Feb. 6 home game, fat snowflakes began accumulating on the turf at a scoreless halftime. Drenched fans huddled in the bleachers under long plastic tarps, screaming. Schoolgirls in headscarves swooned.

Real Kashmir scored the winning goal against Gokulam Kerala FC, from southern India, in the 51st minute. As the referee’s whistle sounded and the home team moved one match closer to India’s top soccer title, the crowd of shivering, ecstatic Kashmiris erupted in cheers.

“You’re always rooting for the underdog, and I think Kashmir are that,” observes Sumedh Bilgi, an Indian sports journalist who’s watched the team’s improbable rise. “Ultimately, money rules the world. But you always want your fairy tale, don’t you?”

Enlarge this image

Team photo after Real Kashmir won India’s I-League 2nd Division title in May 2018.

Courtesy of Umar Amin

hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of Umar Amin

NPR Producer Furkan Latif Khan contributed to this report.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

The world’s best breakdancers could compete for Olympic gold medals at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, if the event’s organizers succeed in getting the hip-hop dance style recognized as an Olympic sport.

As Paris organizers proposed adding breakdancing to the roster, the International Olympic Committee said the idea fits with its goal of making the Olympics “gender-balanced, more youth-focused and more urban.”

Breakdancing was part of the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires 2018, with participants competing as b-girls, b-boys and on mixed teams. At the Olympics, the discipline would be known simply as “breaking.”

In Buenos Aires, the b-girls competition was won by Ram (Japan’s Ramu Kawai), and the b-boy’s medal was won by Bumblebee (Russia’s Sergei Chernyshev).

“The Paris organizing committee also wants to include climbing, surfing and skateboarding, which are already on the roster for the 2020 Tokyo Games,” Jake Cigainero reports for NPR’s Newsdesk. “Karate will also make its Olympic debut in Tokyo, but Paris snubbed the sport for its lineup.”

In breaking battle competitions, judges vote to decide the winner of multiple rounds of dancing, in which two dancers take turns on the floor — with rivals often doing their best not to look impressed with their opponent.

Discussing “le breakdance” at a news conference on Thursday, Paris organizers said that it speaks to young people worldwide and that it has more than 1 million practitioners in France — second only to the U.S.

Praising the dancers’ acrobatic ability and innovation and the dramatic suspense of battles, organizers said it would offer a completely new type of competition at the Olympics.

If breaking does become an Olympic sport, the dance style that has its roots in New York City’s streets will achieve a status that ballroom dancing aficionados have been pursuing for years. That effort has been led by the World DanceSport Federation — which now finds itself celebrating the inclusion of a different discipline.

“It is an incredible honor and privilege that, for the first time, a dance discipline is being considered for inclusion in the Olympic Games,” said WDSF President Shawn Tay, adding that breaking would be “an outstanding success” in Paris.

The Paris committee’s decision to back the four new arrivals means that baseball and softball will be left out of the Paris Olympics, after a brief return for the Tokyo Games. Squash is also shut out; so are chess and snooker, which were seen as facing long odds to become Olympic sports in 2024.

While a gritty sport that started in the U.S. has a shot at being in the Olympics, a gritty and acrobatic French sport — parkour — was left out of the Paris proposals. As NPR’s Laurel Wamsley has reported, the International Gymnastics Federation has increasingly sought to bring parkour under its purview and reportedly lobbied to make it part of the 2024 Games.

Paris organizers predict the new sports will boost the Olympics’ appeal to a younger generation that might not be transfixed by more traditional sports. While they sketched out how the competitions would be held in 2024, final details about the proposed sports aren’t likely to emerge until after the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020.

The International Olympic Committee will review the Paris group’s proposals, with an initial decision possible in March, when the Olympic Program Commission is slated to make its recommendation to the IOC Executive Board. Final approval could come in June, when the IOC will meet in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Updated at 4:45 p.m. ET

A Florida police chief has announced that Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, will face charges of soliciting prostitution after he was caught on surveillance video allegedly in the midst of a sexual act.

Jupiter Police Chief Daniel Kerr announced the charges on Friday as part of a sting on a local spa suspected of human trafficking and potential money laundering.

Kraft is one of dozens to face similar charges. Kerr says he is being charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution, a misdemeanor, tied to two different visits to the Orchids of Asia Day Spa.

Detective Andrew Sharp was asked at the Friday news conference if there is video evidence of Kraft in the massage parlor room receiving the alleged acts. “The answer to that is yes,” he said.

Sharp later elaborated, saying the footage — collected over several months — had been recorded by secret cameras mounted inside massage parlor rooms throughout the spa.

He added that Kraft, who he said was a regular, visited twice “approximately a month ago” and was taken to the spa, located in a strip mall, by a driver.

“I can’t speak to the exact dollar number that [Kraft] paid; however, there is a specific number for a time frame when you are there that you pay,” Sharp told reporters.

According to the detective, customers at the day spa typically paid $59 for a half-hour and $79 for a full hour. Sharp did not confirm how much time Kraft allegedly spent at the spa.

Kerr said that an arrest warrant will be issued for Kraft.

The 77-year-old Kraft has been the owner of the Patriots since 1994.

“We categorically deny that Mr. Kraft engaged in any illegal activity,” a spokesman for The Kraft Group told NPR in statement. “Because it is a judicial matter, we will not be commenting further.”

In an emailed statement, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote, “The NFL is aware of the ongoing law enforcement matter and will continue to monitor developments.”

McCarthy added that “all personnel” are subject to the league’s personal conduct policy which explicitly prohibits sex offenses.

“It is not enough simply to avoid being found guilty of a crime,” the policy states. “We are all held to a higher standard and must conduct ourselves in a way that is responsible, promotes the values of the NFL, and is lawful.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

It was the most highly anticipated college basketball game of the season: Duke was facing archrival North Carolina, with the spectacular talents of Duke’s freshman sensation Zion Williamson on display.

Former President Barack Obama was there. Tickets for the game were reselling for more than $3,000 — Super Bowl prices. Duke’s exuberant student section, known as the Cameron Crazies, was extra hyped.

And then a mere 33 seconds into the game, on a routine play, Williamson dribbled near the foul line when his left leg buckled, his left blue-and-white Nike sneaker ripped apart at the seams and he tumbled to the floor, grabbing his right knee in pain.

Williamson limped off the court. Hearts sank everywhere. Obama visibly mouthed “his shoe broke.” And in mere seconds, Nike was facing a marketing nightmare. The offending shoes were stashed away by a trainer. But the images of the young star being felled by his footwear couldn’t be erased.

On social media, messages of concern and sympathy for Williamson were mixed with dishy remarks about the shoes. A Nike rival tweeted, “Wouldn’t have happened in the pumas.” The tweet was later deleted.

In a statement, Nike said it was “obviously concerned” and wished Williamson a speedy recovery. “The quality and performance of our products are of utmost importance. While this is an isolated occurrence, we are working to identify the issue.”

Thankfully Williamson’s injury does not appear to be serious. Though the freshman didn’t return to the game, Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski described it as a mild right knee sprain.

But Williamson’s shoe implosion is an embarrassment for Nike, which also had a problem in 2017 with NBA jerseys that were tearing. But whether it will have any long-term impact on the world’s largest sports apparel brand is another matter. Nike’s shares were down about 1.7 percent in late morning trading — not good news, but not a major selloff.

Nike’s markets are so global and its products are so diversified that it’s unlikely the sad fate of one shoe will have a meaningful impact on sales.

But then there’s the young man who was wearing those shoes — Zion Williamson. Possessing a unique combination of leaping ability, power, speed and basketball IQ, he is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft.

At a mere 18 years old, his skills, athletic ability and court demeanor are already being compared to LeBron James’. Companies will be vying fiercely to sign him to a multimillion-dollar shoe deal. And when he plays his first NBA game, likely later this year, millions of people will be watching; many will be looking at the brand of sneakers he’s wearing.

Nike had better hope the memories of what happened 33 seconds into the North Carolina game don’t stay top of mind for Williamson.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)