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March 29, 2008

Vogue: Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen Cover … King Kong & Faye Wray … Racially Insensitive … Get a Life!

Posted in: Bloggers,Celebrity,Main,Media,WTF

File this one under … Racism, you have got to be joking … Get a Life!

VOGUE … racially insensitive cover? The only racism that needs to be addressed is by those who seemingly read into and see racism where there is none. We really must start questioning those who cry racism at the drop of a hat. There is real racism that exists, this is not it!

It is simply amazing and disgusting how some people can only see the negative in life. One would think they want to for ulterior motives. When I look at this cover, I see the Odd Couple. I see two people who have made it to the top of their careers at such a young age, have more money and popularity than they know what to do with and have made their mark in two diversely different ways. Both driven in their own ways … both at the top of their game, Gisele with beauty and looks and Lebron with a body that most men would die for and the skills that have made him deserving of the name, King James.

Voguecover_James

(NBA superstar Lebron James & super model Gisele Bundchen)

There comes a point and time where some people just need to stop their racism agenda. The latest so-called “racially insensitive” call to arms is the recent Vogue cover with NBA basketball phenom Lebron James and super model Gisele Bundchen. King James is actually the first black man to ever grace its cover. However, in the world we live in where some one always seems to find a racially motivated conspiracy in every thing … a controversy has erupted comparing the Vogue cover to that of King Kong and Fay Wray.

King_Kong3

(Yea, I get the two pics confused all the time)

But 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.

“It conjures up this idea of a dangerous black man,” said Tamara Walker, 29, of Philadelphia. (USA Today)

King-Kong1

This ridiculous stupidity stems from an ESPN story by Jemele Hill who stated the following:

A black athlete being reduced to a savage is, sadly, nothing new. But this cover gave you the double-bonus of having LeBron and Gisele strike poses that others in the blogosphere have noted draw a striking resemblance to the racially charged image of King Kong enveloping his very fair-skinned lady love interest.

LeBron is just the third male ever to appear on Vogue’s cover, but it’s hard to believe Vogue would have made Brett Favre, Steve Nash or even David Beckham strike his best beast pose. And even if Vogue had, it wouldn’t carry the same racial undertones as having a fear-inducing black man paired with a dainty damsel.

Too often, black athletes are presented as angry, overly aggressive and overly sexual. Or sometimes, they’re just plain emasculated.

King_Kong_faywray

(Faye Wray … Funny, Gisele seems to be smiles ear to ear)

That’s correct. You heard that right. The cover of Lebron James and Gisele Bundchen is being compared to King Kong and Fay Wray. What are some people thinking and what is their agenda? Maybe some one would like to ask Jemele Hill, who is black, why she sees racism where there is none. How can any one look at a simple magazine cover and describe it as another form of racism against black? Unfortunately, there is obviously racism that still occurs in the 21st century; however, this is not it. When people constantly cry wolf and make absurd comments, they diminish the acts of real racism.

People have been suspended and even fired from their jobs for making racist King-kong2or what were perceived as racist comments. One has to wonder why ESPN would not do the same with Jemele Hill’s attempt at calling something racist when it was not. Even many black activists saw nothing wrong with the cover. In fact, one might think that this was a break though milestone as Lebron James was the first black man ever to be on the cover.

Why should be be wary of this ESPN article by Jemele Hill? Because she manages to evoke the super Democratic, all loving, all knowing, all caring, above racism and ignorance candidate Barack Obama. Why is it surprising that race and Obama’s name would come up again so soon? Does Miss Hill attend the same type of church that Obama did and does as well?

“It’s like Barack Obama said in his much-talked about speech on race Tuesday. We know so little about one another. Even scarier, we know even less about the fallout of racist history”.

Yeah, we are going to take advice from a man, Barack Obama, who for 20 years sat back and listened to the hate speech and reverse racism of the Reverend Wright. Obama sat back and pandered to Wright to gain the black vote while anti-white, anti-Italian and anti-American comments were made. One would tend to think that racial slurs and taking the Lord’s name in vain from the pulpit are a much worse situation that this harmless Vogue cover.

Am I supposed to be mad about LeBron?

Would someone please write a handbook? “What Will and Won’t Piss Black Folk Smooth the **** Off” would be an international bestseller.

I’m black, and I’m pissed off most of the time, but I wouldn’t leave home without the handbook. Not in these racist-ly confusing times. I can barely keep up with when I’m supposed to be disappointed as opposed to offended as opposed to being pissed smooth the **** off.


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