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Vogue Cover Stirs Up Race Controversy

Posted Mar 26, 08 4:01 PM CDT in Gossip 

(Newser) – A Vogue cover featuring NBA star LeBron James and supermodel Gisele Bundchen is stirring up a fuss, Dan Fleschner writes on an MSNBC blog. Some say the shot, by the legendary Annie Leibovitz, perpetuates racial stereotypes by portraying James in an aggressive "King Kong-like" pose, with Bundchen as the willowy white woman in distress.

Critics also say that there were plenty of better shots to choose from for the cover. "I couldn't help but wonder—what's the more racist response to the cover: to see racial stereotypes and object or to not notice race at all?" writes Fleschner. "This all seems a little silly," comments one reader on the Today show blog.

Source MSNBC

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    I See Sex, Not Racism Last week's Vogue cover had "a lot of people, smart and dumb, losing their minds," writes Wesley Morris in Slate. Sure, Annie Leibovitz's shot may pander to the "ugliest racist tropes: black male as ape," with LeBron James as King Kong and Gisele Bundchen as the silky-gowned Fay Wray. (She even has her very own "dashing white adventurer," boyfriend Tom Brady.) But that subtext is a stretch. More »

In this photo provided by Glaceau, Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James has his clothing adjusted by his stylist during the taping of a commercial.   (AP Photo/Glaceau, Ken Blaze)
The cover, featuring basketball great LeBron James and supermodel Gisele Bundchen is seen as innocuous to some, racist to others.   (Vogue.com)
In this photo released by Disney Parks, super model Gisele Bundchen poses on the set of a photo shoot with photographer Annie Leibovitz on Oct. 12, 2007, in New York.   (AP Photo/Disney Parks, Mark Schafer)
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen listens during a press conference in London in this June 19, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Sang Tan, file)
Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James, right, is defended by Toronto Raptors' Anthony Parker during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game Friday, March 21, 2008, in Cleveland.   (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
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Annie Liebovitz Exhibition   (americanobserver (YouTube))
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NBA • LeBron James • race • Vogue • Gisele Bundchen • Annie Leibovitz • stereotypes


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