Vogue Cover Starring LeBron and Gisele Called Racially Insensitive
Mon, Mar 24, 2008 By Tariq Ali
The image of Lebron James with Gisele Bundchen is stirring up controversy with some calling the “photo as perpetuating racial stereotypes. James strikes what some see as a gorilla-like pose, baring his teeth, with one hand dribbling a ball and the other around Bundchen’s tiny waist.”
Magazine analyst, Samir Husni believes the photo was deliberately provocative, adding that it “screams King Kong.” Considering Vogue’s influential history, he said, covers are not something that the magazine does in a rush.”So when you have a cover that reminds people of King Kong and brings those stereotypes to the front, black man wanting white woman, it’s not innocent,” he said.
James told The Cleveland Plain Dealer he was pleased with the cover, saying he was “just showing a little emotion.”
“Everything my name is on is going to be criticized in a good way or bad way,” James told the paper. “Who cares what anyone says?”
One reader of the magazine commented in USA Today saying:
“This cover is very hurtful to the white basketball players. It screams that only blacks can play basketball, be successful and that white women would choose a black man over successful white man. I am boycotting Vogue from now on.”
Another reader said:
“He’s a basketball player who is known for his abilities…what kind of face should he be making? He is in his element, whether black, white, or purple, he IS a basketball player. It’s not like they took just some tall black guy and made him wear a basketball uniform and have a blonde jumping up and down for him. Sheesh. People need to seriously get over themselves and stop taking things so seriously.”
Mat Carter of Canada.com said, “Perhaps it’s because we in Canada carry slightly less racial baggage then our southern friends, but to me the criticism is a mite hysterical — not to mention insulting toward James.”
Tags: Gisele Bundchen, LeBron James, Vogue
Steve, Please do not generalize. One person does not speak for an entire race. Open your mind and get to know people. Don’t let hate consume you. I am black, but my grandfather is black and white. My race is not cancerous because of the comments of a few. Take care.
CANCER – truly amazing that in 2008 people still have this type of limited mentality. To make a blanket statement that blacks don’t get along with blacks truly points out as to why this country is not as great as it could be. Please show me what group of people get along 100%! Plus I would venture to guess that if you are a sports fan, you cheer every time you team plays and depending on the sport, football, basketball, baseball etc. there is someone of color that you support, but black people a CANCER, please don’t hate because we are beautiful, talented and educated.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? IT’S A BADASS COVER, THERE IS NOTHING RACIST ABOUT IT…………GET OVER IT.
Well said Albert Roberson. If the article is about being fit and having the best body, it can still be done in a more tastful and more softer way. Take a look at everyone of Vogues past covers with men. Do any of them look like a King Kong with the blonde and the hair flying in the wind like she is on top of the Empire State building.
Is that person for real? Only people that are racist would or could depict that from the picture. Mr James is a great B-Ball player along with Magic, Larry Bird (he’s white),Jordan,and many others. I also agree with Jesse this should not even be an issue. There are many more important things happening in the world to concern ones self with. GREAT COVER.
This is out of control. As a 22 year old, (and part of a hopeful generation that is passionate about color lines only being history) I choose not to be concerned about the color of ones skin but what you individually bring to the table. When I looked at this cover I saw a sexy photo of Lebron, a bad ass NBA star with Giselle, a gorgeous Brazilian supermodel (never once did it occur to me that it was a black man and a white woman). That wasn’t brought to my attention until reading that someone (with too much time on their hands) has hyped it up to be offensive and actually has people supporting his idea! WHAT A JOKE…King Kong!! SERIOUSLY???? I thought the cover was creative, it caught my eye and it looked like the 2 were having fun!! The magazine (in bold letters on the cover) is offering advice about great bodies and being in shape. The way I look at it…Vogue chose Lebron to represent the “best of the best” bodies of men, and Giselle for the women. BOTH of them deserve this!! So don’t take that away from them and their fans. I’m now only offended on Lebron’s behalf because someone (who is either jealous or selfish) took Lebron’s image on a magazine cover and twisted into a racial issue that portrayed him as King Kong scaring an innocent woman (who is smiling huge by the way). This is so frustrating. Has anyone asked Lebron or Giselle if either one of them is offended? While I do appreciate art and how one person can interpret it differently than another, in this case, if you look at this photograph and see it as an attack on colored men or maybe NBA stars, or any other negative story you wish to concoct, please try not to ruin it for Lebron, Giselle or anyone else. Vogue is not out to get you! America is not out to get you!
Ok…What? and So what who cares! what in the world does that cover of that magazine have to do with race or a man looking like a monkey. I mean, don’t he make the same faces on the basketball court. Do people say ‘Oh look at that monkey” or do they say “Damn, did you see that play.” Being a black woman, I am saying loudly, get off of it!
Couldn’t this just be the 2 sides of Lebron James? Lebron is a beast on the court, but has a softer side off the court. You put 2 of the most attractive people today on the cover of a magizine and people try to make something bad out of it. Nonsense !
I like the cover I think it looks clean, the only thing I am offended by is the cover’s headlines about the “secrets of the best bodies” That offends me because you have two people on the cover whose bodies are not that of an average person their age. LeBron is perfect in tone, mass, and he is handsome, and I am not even going to point out the obvious super model and her body. The secret here is to get money and make it your job to be Hot and physically fit..Or just have good genes…Vogue is perpetuating the myth that everyone can have these bodies which is a lie……Thank you for adding to the continued stigma about body issues in the country!
No Tyra would not have made the cover beacause she is not fat in the eye of the fashion industry…Its BS she still has a great body by any normal eyes but this cover would have never had her on it….
The black man posed for the photo of his own free will….thus not racism. GET A LIFE!!
Some peeple need to get a life. When I saw this cover the only thing that crossed my mind was good looking woman, talented b-ball player. When you put toddlers together on a play-ground of all different races to interact, all they see is another human. It takes a racist mind to divide into race and class. The individual who pointed out the so-called controversy he/she is a racist themselves. African-America male
Can someone please tell me when we are going to get over racial stereotypes and political correctness.. GOOD GOD! ITS A MAN WITH A WOMAN< AND HES BLACK AND SHES HOT WHO THE HELL CARES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The people who are coming up with this “king Kong” theory are the racists. I blame it on c areless media folks trying to get ratings.. I am white.. and the media is racist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All you people out there trying to stir up trouble,you are the rasist.Who the hell is this Hunsi jackass,he needs to look in the mirror,there he will see a rasist !
Thank you Alpert. I could not agree more. I even share the same opinion concerning the cover of Jennifer Hudson (I believe it was the 1st cover for a Black woman or plus-size Black woman). Ultimately, our Black entertainers must be more discerning by requesting final approval of any photos used of their image. And of course they must possess the racial consciousness to both understand and acknowledge when racial stereotyping is afoot. Sadly, however, many of these entertainers are too afraid of being sent back to “GO”.
SAMIR HUSNI is CLEARLY the only RACIST involved in this “story”. I’m white and all I see is two extremes of fabulous bodies–that’s ALL I see. Husni sees a gorilla? OH MY GOD! This person’s absurb opinion is the EPITOMY OF RACISM! SHAME ON YOU HUSNI!!!! What a jerk.
LOL….I concur. It’s just a magazine cover. And Vogue is doing what it does best…MAKE MONEY!!!
The only ones “perpetuating racial stereotypes” are the idiots reading this far into a simple picture. GET A GRIP PEOPLE!
What the heck is a “magazine analyst” anyway?
I am continually amazed at our “society’s” narrow mindedness, hair trigger political sensitivity, and inability to see things for what they are. The feature to which the picture was tied was basically about beauty and brawn. HOW on earth can one see that picture and leap to a racially charged, deliberate attempt to incite divisivness in our society is beyond my comprehension.
We Americans are so politically, gender, religion, race, disability and so on sensitive we have become the butt of jokes around the world rather than an example of a mature, free society. We are continually labeling ourselves as (insert what you think your background is)-American, that we have a nation not of Americans, but of separate and distinct tribes. Isn’t that what we try to fix around the world? Isn’t that what got the former Yugoslavia into civil war? Rwanda? Liberia?
How can we call ourselves an example when this sort of stuff goes unchecked in the “United” States of America?!
The issue lies with us (black folk) – but some of us are offended, and rightfully we cannot dismiss the insult or pain the photo has created. Hypersensitivity, something I believe too many black people have, is tied to emotion. Emotion typically leads many of us to over react. We (black people) are a damaged people. Damaged by the brutally of slavery. We are hurting, and we want to be respected – but fail at times to address the issue the white man/governmental system has assembled through cultural destruction: The Man in the Mirror. We need to start over with a healing process that is directed by us, and not some white power structure. It is interesting that we dismiss this, the demeaning of black women, crime committed by us on us, and everything else associated with our pain – but NEVER address our black self hatred. I find that to be sad!
-Muata
Its not that its offensive, I think offensive is the wrong word being used here. I think the word should be Blatant or Obvious. Its the imagery alone that conjures an obvious idea/stereotype. Honestly they could have gotten any black female model and it would have read completely different. But… they have a white female model who is supposedly the ultimate example of beauty (according to many articles written about her). The image definately helps to play into the stereotype/ constant images (especially these days) showing a black man loving his white pricess. And eventhough they dont appear to be intimate it is still clear what message is being put across. It not just a picture, its whats in the picture and what is being conveyed visually. If you dont believe me.. look at the commercials, even sitcoms express this stereotype of black men who secretly supposedly want and love only white women. This image clearly represents a black man cluching his prize, and in this case a successful young ,black, well off basketball player clutching his prize.. a young thin blondish white woman( even if she is brazillian, she clearly reads as a white woman and it doesnt matter) Black women in my opinion are clearly and strategically being pushed out of the picture. PAY ATTENTION next time you watch television. Usually the black women are single, or TRYING to get a man, upset because they cant get one and if they have one he doesnt really want her or she is upset with him fussing him out, which also helps to play into the stereotype that black women are mean and degrade their men despite the fact that he might actually be a complete idiot. And yes its just tv, but the media/entertainment plays a HUGE role in how we think, express and form opions on things. Its very clear to me, but I think some black people or people in general are so afraid to talk about this image and what its really represents for possibly being accused of complaining , pulling the race card etc. The problem with that is.. it cripples you.. It makes you afraid to point out and state the obvious, it makes you not want to seem like a complainer or trouble maker even when in fact something really is taking place!!! In other words, if an obvious racial situation occurs where you are the target, but its something that can be flipped to the point where it seems like you are overacting, the person who intended on attacking you wins because they were able to say that you are using the race card or complaining like most blacks do (or other races).. eventhough they actually did do something to you. Its quite interesting how people can be racist, but actually get upset when you call them out on it and then you become the offender and they become the victim. Amazing! When I saw this cover, my first reaction is why? i dont like what I am seeing, and it had nothing to do with his tats, his basketball .. but it was his facial expression ( and yes he makes this face on the court, but thats the court.. and this is a photoshoot) and him gripping on to this white woman. why not a black model? really why not? why? it cleary represents something that reminds me of kingkong and his white love interest…. its the same thing over and over again, constantly you find white women being the love interest of black men on tv, movies, etc. things that shape our opinions, or a black man lusting after a white woman. Its always the same imagery and you’d be a fool to not see this. And yes, I know there are interracial couples.. and thats fine.. i’ve dated a white guy before.. BUT.. Its really annoying when media is constantly throwing out the idea that white women are the black mans prize.. and where does that leave the black woman.. lonely, alone, mad and unstable, or in some cases simply not there. pay attention and you will see what I am talking about. Iam not crazy just observant but this cover is a telltale sign to me what message is being flashed across your eyes. excuse my spelling errors. :)
I am so relieved to know that I am not the only person who was AUTOMATIALLY offended when I first saw this photo. It did’t even occur to me that LeBron James was being depicted like King Kong, the first thought that popped up in my mind is “why isn’t there a black model on his side”? I don’t want to hear the bull about they’re both at the top of their game, becuase thats a matter of opinoin. Since when did the modeling industry start giving out MVPs & when did we have a national poll that said she had the best body? Since when is looking sickly the “best bod”? I think Vogue needs to take a step back and think about all of the underlying messages this cover is sending out. First off it screams every successful black athelete needs his white (yeah I know she Brazilian, but she looks white) trophy woman. Here is some food for thought, why didn’t Vogue think to get a female athlete and a male model? Secondly, it reinforces the negative self images within many females around the world.
oh & steve you win the IGNORANT A-HOLE Award hands down.