During the 9 o’clock hour on November 20th, a white feminist named Dr. Jessica Taylor found herself on the receiving end of beef with Black Twitter. She whitesplains that King Richard should have been titled after the film’s executive producers, Venus and Serena Williams. After all, they are the real success stories and to her mind their father played no part in it.
Dr. Taylor eludes that a film honoring their dad and first coach somehow depreciates them as Black women and champion athletes. But they attribute their success, especially early on, to their father, Richard Williams.
Since birth, Mr. Williams instilled in them unwavering confidence. They learned early on that white people would question that confidence and discredit their motivation just as Dr. Taylor has done in that tweet. The Williams sisters are executive producers of the film. If they wanted a different title, it would have the title they wanted.
The backlash of Dr. Taylor’s tweet was overwhelming. She was ratio’d so significantly but still decided to double down 3 hours later with more performative outrage.
The title is a play on King Richard who invaded Scotland in 1385. Likewise, Mr. Richard executed a plan for his daughters to invade the elite sport of tennis with their pure talent.
His plan since they were born was for them to become the greatest tennis players in the world, despite how difficult it would be for them because they were Black girls, living in Compton with little means.
Richard Williams is a Black father who was hunted down by the KKK in his youth. He says his own father abandoned him. But despite setbacks, he managed to raise two confident Black girls, in a place the world thumbs its nose at. And those girls went on to become №1 champions, dominating a white, elite sport that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
Others chimed in complaining that Mr. Williams had abandoned his 5 children from a previous marriage. That may be true. But also true is the fact that Venus and Serena experienced their father differently. He was there for them. Their experience should not be diminished by anyone, especially Dr. Taylor.
King Richard is currently in theaters and on HBO Max.
