Comments on: Is Vogue’s April 2008 cover racist?

By: Sileamana

Sileamana — Wed, 25 May 2011 17:56:22 +0000

I think people jump into conclusions too quickly. It never crossed my mind this photo showed any kind of racism. He is a basketball player being strong and loud and she is a model being sweet and delicate. Those are the only stereotypes there is. Plus when you read the head lines, they are talking about fitness. If there is something they are saying with this photo is that: EVERYONE IN WHATEVER INDUSTRY, NEEDS TO GET IN SHAPE TO STAY ON TOP. Plus it show equality between woman and man in a physical content. Woman being “delicate” have the same capacity to be as strong as a big man. Color of skin doesn’t have to do with any of it. Gisele is a inspiration to all women as James is to all men. AND THAT’S IT!!!

By: Adam

Adam — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:05:30 +0000

@simpleton (Like my creative edit?) You don’t have a coherent argument. “all black guys are good basketball players, muscular, aggressive etc.”? No, but LeBron James is all of those things. He’s on a fashion magazine, modeling HIS CLOTHING LINE, which happens to be basketball apparel, because HE’S A BASKETBALL PLAYER. It’s not “random black dude #38″ on the cover, it’s LeBron James, professional basketball player.

“Woman is portrayed as a stereotypical ideal…elegant, skimpy clothing…” She’s a model. In my opinion, she doesn’t even look elegant in that photo. If anything she looks like she’s trying to escape, which may be the only racist thing in the photo, if you’re an oversensitive prat.

Anything can be interpreted as racist, just like you can re-interpret things to suit your needs. You know what I think about that picture? It’s by a bunch of neo-nazi feminist man-haters. Clearly LeBron is acting too manly, with his sleeveless shirt, primal scream and unbridled athleticism. Gisele, wanting a more sophisticated metrosexual man, is leaning away from him; her hips and toes pointing in a different direction, showing an unconscious repulsion to his masculinity. SIMILAR TO HOW VOGUE HATES MEN! IT’S A CONSPIRACY!

By: youreallsimpletons

youreallsimpletons — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:40:54 +0000

the fact that 99% of you are dismissing the claims without even analysing them….proves one thing…you’re all racist! yes I’m afraid so. The king kong and white woman link is irrelevant (gisele is brazillian not white) however The vogue cover is a total stereotype, stereotypes of both blacks and women. Woman is portrayed as a stereotypical ideal…must be slim, elegant, long hair, long legs, over a certain height, tight skimpy clothing, big breasts…cant get much more stereotypical than that. And the black guy…well all black guys are good basketball players, muscular, aggressive etc. And why are you guys racist? because youre dismissing it without even giving it any thought, that shows either 1) you dont want to hear or even acknowledge the existence of racism or race issues…which makes you either ignorantly racist or “colour blind.” colour blindess is part of the conspiracy to deny the existence of racism, as if to say we’re all equal now. very similar to saying men and women are all equal, were are all classless now, hence i dont want to hear about it. There thats why youre all racist. your attitudes are absolutely no different to someone who says …”i cant be racist because my have in-laws who are indian.” “I’m not racist but…” “im not racist, i have friends who are black” etc etc. “im not racist, my workmate is korean” etc etc etc

By: Jack Yan

Jack Yan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:53:09 +0000

That’s not nice, Adrien, and how do you know who’s American above?

By: adrien

adrien — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:17:00 +0000

omg you american people are just so stupid…

By: Jack Yan

Jack Yan — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:56:15 +0000

Paul, short story is that Mr James does not think the cover is racist and of course he was not forced to pose. I don’t think the overall argument is faulty but I do think this cover can be defended.

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:29:06 +0000

Why don’t we just ask the photographer and the subjects? Does LJ think it is racist? Was he forced to pose? This is a faulty argument anyway.

By: 8.

8. — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:51:07 +0000

Whoever thought this picture somehow has some heading racial undertone needs to get laid really bad.

By: Jack Yan

Jack Yan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:41:06 +0000

You have hit upon one thing, Krystal, that I think has a lot of merit: the fact that a basketball player is dressed as a basketball player does weaken the charges, and as I said I could not see the King Kong connection till it was pointed out. Perhaps what it comes down to is that Vogue has had a history of more white covers than is proportionally representative, though that is not always the fault of the magazine. (Its staff is also less ethnically diverse than a random sample of Americans.) When a black American ﬁnally makes it to the cover, it was bound to be scrutinized far more heavily than, say, a general-interest title.

By: krystal

krystal — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:14:40 +0000

this is ridiculous!!! I am so sick of everything having to come down to race! NO matter what the picture looked like, there would have been something to complain about it. Its just a picture that obviously he was not forced to do–he is a basketball player, he is supposed to look tough!

By: Jack Yan

Jack Yan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:07:48 +0000

More arguments from both sides at AP, including a response from LeBron James: news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080324/ ap_en_ot/fea_fashion_vogue_cover I thought the closing paragraphs were telling.

By: Jack Yan

Jack Yan — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:03:21 +0000

Becky, there’s a good bunch of arguments at the cross-posting of this same piece at Vox, which covers some good ground—some people do care. Chris: you’re generalizing, if I may say so. Carmen, very good call.
Here’s that Vox link, though bear in mind only Vox members can comment:

http://jackyan.vox.com/library/post/the-race-issue-comes-up-againthis-time-on-the-cover-of-vogue.html

The two “sides” get into some good depth there and this addresses Chris’s ‘ignorant’ charge without my needing to repeat the arguments here.

By: carmenV

carmenV — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:34:30 +0000

I think everyone’s made a good argument about the cover. But why are we arguing about a magazine cover? Everybody is focusing on issues that don’t even matter. I hope that things wiil change in november…and that’s all that matters to me.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:19:43 +0000

Why does EVERYTHING always turn into something with racism? GET OVER IT PEOPLE! Lebron James is the Man, I’ll bet he dosen’t think the cover is racist. People like you who cry racist over everything are just as ignorant as racist people themselves.

By: becky

becky — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:31:27 +0000

Get over it. We’re all minorities in one way or another. Were they forced to do this cover? I don’t think so. Who cares.