Comments on: King Jam…Wait…King Kong on the Cover of Vogue? Shameful…

By: illest

illest — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 04:44:30 +0000

Will Lebron care about how he is portrayed in this photo? No he wont. Which is the sad thing.

By: ILYD

ILYD — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:35:57 +0000

Bobbito and CCB: I stand corrected. THANK YOU for enlightening me. I am grateful for your words of wisdom and hope to have many more discussions with you “on a hoops board of all places.”

Humbly,

ILYD

By: CCB

CCB — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:44:22 +0000

Bobbito is right, the simple idea of discussion can cure a world of ills. By stating that one picture does not undo years of progress, or that it does not have the ability to remove the progress of Blacks and Latinos is a very dangerous, very conservative brand of thinking.

There has never been one instance that created a revolution or the downfall of a society. There have always been things that occured and continued to develop over time that have led to an outburst or the mistreatment of a people.

Images are powerful. Why do you think NYC created such a fuss over graf only to eventually see the power and implement into classic art galleries. The images in the John Mayer video of various graf, was more powerful than the song was. One picture can indeed spark a riot or change the world, don’t be so naive to think it can’t.

The picture of the Tibetan monk, the little gilr that was napalmed, hell as a hoops reference, the picture of the Holcombe Rucker sing can bring on all types of responses. Pictures, are powerful and this picture in the hands of a Bill O’reilly or some other person is dangerous.

I agree with not giving it power and possibly I have, but don’t think for a minute, that this picture hasn’t generated any feedback on the Vogue side as well. As Bobbito said, at least we are having a discourse, on a hoops board of all places.

By: Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love

Bobbito Garcia a.k.a. Kool Bob Love — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 00:26:36 +0000

ilyd-

the way to “not lead the majority on to believe they have more power over minorities” is to call them out when they are wrong and not silence our judgement. we have to remain critical. it is our duty to our past and our future. and great–you, me, and many of the progessives wil give that cover no more attention than it deserves, much less buy it, but it will construct a thought in lesser minds who aren’t as open. and for that i feel great that jeremy put this post up. the dialogue in and of itself has gotten people thinking. and that is a good thing.

By: ILYD

ILYD — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:34:47 +0000

We, young and old, have worked so hard to build better race relations, and honestly, its almost insulting that people think the cover of Vogue even has the potential to undo all that we have done. I know racism is alive and well up North, but it is so in your face down here in the South. Katrina, Jena 6, Trent Lott, Sorority Row, water shortages on one side of the tracks and not the other–these things are in my front yard. The issue of how to deal with racial tension plagues us all–black, asian, white, latino–and one thing that we have learned is to not lead the majority (white males) on to believe they have more power over minorities than they really do. A Vogue cover does not have, and I will not give it, the power to influence how I view myself or others around me. Imagine that–letting white America think that their little magazine cover is capable of unraveling so many years of progress. PUHleeease. Naw, we better than that, stronger than that and our progress cannot be undone so easily. People are always saying “it is what it is,” but baby its only that way cuz you made it that way. I give that cover no more attention than it deserves–”Lebron James, cool” —and I keep it movin.

By: Bakar

Bakar — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:47:54 +0000

Hear, hear. Supporters of the cover will say that people shouldn’t take this too seriously and they’re probably right; but the bottom line is that there are way better alternatives to potray Akron’s Finest.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:04:24 +0000

Here’s a question to ask yourself: would Vogue have picked this assy art direction if it was Tom Brady with Gisele?

I’m guessing no.

I get that LeBron designed his own clothing line, but why didn’t they take a stylish photo of him? Instead we get the power squat, the rage scream, the arm around the token supermodel/trophy woman in the inexplicable evening gown. If they’re pimping his clothing line, why isn’t she dressed along the same lines? If they want the evening gown look, why not put him in a suit.

He totally looks like King Kong (first thing I thought on seeing it).

At best, it’s condescending. At worst, it’s racist.

For a fashion magazine, it’s definitely fugly.

By: Lamont

Lamont — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:38:57 +0000

ya tha first thing I be thinkin when I saw dat was damn muh boy be lookin like da monkey from dat movie. lebron is da king tho

By: Robin

Robin — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:03:31 +0000

I agree with CCB. When I first saw this cover, I definitely didn’t make the King Kong connection, but I still thought it was troubling. LeBron looks really angry and aggressive, which wouldn’t be so weird except that this is a Vogue cover. Giselle looks uncomfortable, like LeBron is dominating her and she has to kind of play along with it or else.

Divorced from context, the King Kong parallel might be just a playful callback to this other famous image. But this type of portrayal is connected to powerful stereotypes that still influence the way people think about race, and make them more likely to see Black men as all those things CCB mentioned as well as as rapists of white women. So Vogue really needs to be more careful when it comes to presenting images that can reinforce damaging stereotypes.

(It’s also interesting to contrast this with the cover they had with George Clooney and Giselle. Definitely no awkward and threatening hypermasculinity in that one, although to be fair it would make less sense with a non-athlete. I’m not sure why it ever does make sense, though.)

By: Sean Couch

Sean Couch — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:00:35 +0000

bob:

never said bron gets paid for being on the cover, and of course he is a nike athlete on contract…my point is that its the woman on his arm that’s the pay.