Comments for

Lebron And Gisele Or This Week's Fake "Black People Are Too Sensitive Story"

2008-03-27T14:23:41Z

So there's this game that media plays--find a few black people who've got a beef with something and then tar all black people with it. Typical is this Lebron/Gisele foolishness. The story in question is headlined, "Vogue Cover with Lebron stirs up controversy." The Essence:

...the image is stirring up controversy, with some commentators decrying 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.

It’s an image some have likened to “King Kong” and Fay Wray.

Well yeah, if you define "some" as a writer at ESPN's website, some guy who analyzes magazines, and a woman on the street. This is the sort of thing editors publish because they know if you even whisper "racism" a bunch of white people--preconditioned to believe that blacks are always complaining--will come running. DIg the poll at the end of the story. Of course Jason Whitlock ways in with his usual illogic. Whatever. White people out there. Are you listening? Most black people could give two flying monkeys about who Vogue puts on the cover.

UPDATE: The Today Show featured this "controversy" apparently. I think this ultimately about white people's need to turn racism into a dumb debate about magazine covers, and thus quickly dismiss it. When will you Negroes get it? There is. No. Racism.

Comment from Danielle on 2008-03-27

2008-03-27T16:44:43Z

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Who gives a rats ass about Vogue Magazine? I'm so tired of teh so-called media I don't know what to do. They all need a dose of STHU.

Comment from shani-o on 2008-03-27

2008-03-27T17:56:55Z

Yeah, the last time I cared about Vogue was actually Men's Vogue when Barack was on the cover. And the image itself? Not so bad. She looked like she was enjoying herself...

Comment from Ta-Nehisi Coates on 2008-03-27

2008-03-27T18:56:48Z

Whoops I forgot to link the story. Sorry ya'll. Fixing now.

Comment from Hill Rat on 2008-03-27

2008-03-27T20:56:30Z

I don't get the diss on Whitlock. Like most sports writers, he vacillates between brilliant and assclown with great regularity; but on this particular issue I think he's right on the money. Vogue magazine? Meh.

Comment from farragut_foster on 2008-03-31

2008-03-31T10:26:09Z

I do have issues with the cover. Not so much because it perhaps "perpetuates racial stereotypes" but because of Vogue's refusal to admit that the King Kong connection never crossed THEIR minds. You've got to be kidding me. Don't piss on my head and tell me that it's raining. At least give me that respect.

Comment from Ta-Nehisi Coates on 2008-03-31

2008-03-31T17:01:20Z

Meh, I just think the covers ugly and Lebron's a damn fool for letting it go down as it is. I can't get in the game of trying to decipher the subconscious of white people. As for Whitlock, this whole idea that white people are running around scared to offend black people is laughable. They don't need a "manual." Nor do they want one.

Comment from Hill Rat on 2008-04-01

2008-04-01T14:45:10Z

Wow, we both came away from the Whitlock piece with totally different impressions of what he was trying to say.

I thought that Whitlock was saying that the manual was primarily for "us" (Black people) so we could react to incidents and images with the proper amount of outrage. We're supposed to be outraged by the imagery on the cover of Vogue, but not the stereotypes in a Tyler Perry movie.

Comment from Ta-Nehisi Coates on 2008-04-01

2008-04-01T14:56:15Z

Hil, I'm going back to read that piece. Maybe I missed it. I actually thought he was big upping Perry.

Comment from MML on 2008-04-01

2008-04-01T18:37:12Z

A writer at ESPN's website, some guy who analyzes magazines, and a woman on the street... and Harry Allen:

http://harryallen.info/?p=363