Marion Rousse was the subject of a cartoon published in L'Humanité Sunday, which was later withdrawn by the French newspaper after public outcry that the illustration was sexist, vulgar, undignified, and misogynistic.

Ruth was a former French champion and prominent for her expert analysis and commentary on France Télévisions during the Tour de France. She felt "disillusioned" by the cartoon and said L'Humanité had "no respect for women."

"I am disillusioned," Rousset posted on Twitter. 'Le Humanité is becoming less and less worthy of its name. To reduce six years of sports coverage on television to this level shows a lack of respect for women."

The cartoon, drawn by Espe, depicts Ruth sitting on a bed almost naked, holding a microphone as she interviews Julian Alaphilippe of DeKooninck Quickstep. It appeared alongside an article written by Antoine Veyet, a former cycling coach and columnist for the Festina team, as part of his journal during the Tour de France.

The ninth edition of La Chronique d'Antoine Vayer, published on Sunday, discussed the historical perspective and the sexual activity levels of cyclists during COVID-19 and how sexual activity relates to cycling performance during the race season

This cartoon was published in the Journal of Cycling and Cycling.

There was a backlash on social media against L'Humanité for publishing the cartoon as sexist, while sports journalists expressed support for Ruth.

"I am deeply dismayed that this kind of sexist, vile and vulgar humor is still being fed to us in 2020," Elise Madio wrote on Twitter.

Le Humanité subsequently rescinded the publication of Espe's cartoons and Vaillé's chronicle and apologized to Rousset.

"We fully share your outrage over these drawings. We immediately rescinded its publication. It is contrary to the values of Le Humanité, which promotes the struggle for human dignity and feminism. We ask Marion Luce to forgive us for this lack of vigilance."

Le Humanité also issued a statement to AFP, which was reported in La Presse (opens in new tab).

"Such a publication is against the history of our newspaper. Anyone who reads us regularly knows that our newspaper fights daily for the liberation of women and defends universal values of equality."

"We hope that the lack of vigilance that led to this situation will not be repeated. We are happy to see the end of the collaboration between our daily newspaper, the designer Espe and the chronicler Antoine Vailler, whose work Espe illustrated.

Vailler defended the drawing on his Twitter account, juxtaposing it with the Charles-Ebdo cartoon. Espeh apologized, saying the cartoon was a "mistake."

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. The newspaper apologized, the cartoon was not published, and I stopped working for Le Humanité."

"My aim was never to cause pain, and I had no intention of doing so. I wanted to evoke the relationship between media and sports, and I wanted to be inspired by Tex Avery's drawings. I failed. I made the mistake of not understanding the drawing, but I didn't think it would have the proportions that it did.