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If you haven't heard by now, LeBron James has become one of the few men, and first Black male to grace the cover of Vogue magazine. In the cover shot, King James is posing with supermodel Gisele Bundchen clutching her waist and giving a scowl to the camera, baring his teeth. Some folks aren't happy about the cover, including ESPN.com columnist Jemele Hill who said the cover looks too stereotypical.
"Now, maybe the point was to show the contrast between brawn and beauty, masculinity versus femininity, strength versus grace," Hill wrote in her column. "But Vogue's quest to highlight the differences between superstar athletes and supermodels only successfully reinforces the animalistic stereotypes frequently associated with black athletes. 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."
Of course, Hill is referring to the poster of the classic King Kong film from the 1930's. Some fans have said that they didn't even think of the comparison until other people brought it up, others saw the correlation right away. Is this a bad look for LeBron and Black athletes in general? TAN at AOL Fanhouse doesn't think so.
Comments: (373)
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By: james on 3/22/2008 10:21PM
For#15 Or you read into something to deeply and totally miss its true meaning. If you try to find racism in everything you look at, maybe your the racist! Mr. James doesn't have a problem with it. Neither should you.
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By: AZ on 3/22/2008 10:34PM
For #18, I did not have to look too hard to find racism in this shot since it was staring me straight in the face. The fact that Mr. James does not have a problem with the way he has been used to perpetuate a stereotype is a huge problem.
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By: REGGIE HERMAN on 3/22/2008 11:36PM
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM HERE ? LET ME GUESS YET ANOTHER BLACK MEGA STAR MAKING A GOOD NAME FOR HIMSELF, GIVING CREDIT TO HIS RACE AND OH YEA MAKING AN UNGODLY AMOUNT OF MONEY ALL WHILE NOT DOING ANYTHING SCANDOLOUS,,,GOD FORBID,,,,,, LET US DO ALL WE CAN TO SMEAR HIM AND BRING HIM DOWN , ER , MAYBE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THAT OVERPAID, ER , I MEAN SERIOUSLY OVERPAID DAVID BECKHAM ON THE COVER THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE POLITICALLY CORRECT...
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By: jayce on 3/23/2008 12:20AM
the ignorance of youth has again reared it's uninformed head on this site, maybe all of you who don't recognize a theme that has played out in American society for 100 of years should attempt to rent a copy of the movie that Woodrow Wilson cried upon viewing because of how it depicted America and it's racist attitudes this is nothing more than a play on the theme of that movie "A Birth of A Nation" rent it today.
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By: harriss smith on 3/23/2008 12:22AM
THis is nothing to get upset about. Even if these rich black guys marry a black woman, they still will give away all of their money away or spend it foolish. This is another reason we need our own newspapers all over the u.s.a. And most important we need more postive black t.v. stations. Nothing at all like b.e.t. They should be sued for calling that station black entertainment t.v..
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By: harriss smith on 3/23/2008 12:29AM
People, there is nothing wrong with this picture. You see what they did. They put another picture up of king kong, and told you whay to think. They are putting this junk in your head and you fall for it. Just like the street of l.a. and other big cities with all these drugs and guns, killing each other everyday. This man is making money. Lewt's hope he does something positive with it.
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By: Sue on 3/23/2008 12:41AM
Speaking as a Clevelander and Cavs fan, if you watched LeBron play, he makes those faces on a regular basis. He is always making some face when he does something spectacular, which occurs most of the time when he touches the basketball as he is doing in the photo. LeBron loves to have fun! He is not a beast, other than on the court. Stop hating on King James. Sheesh. Next, you will say he shouldn't be dribbling a ball because it portrays the image that all black people can do successfully is play sports and entertain! Ridiculous!
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By: tray on 3/23/2008 8:34AM
The correlation between the two images are obvious I just hope LJ and his PR people didnt turn a blind eye to the sublime. Sad... this is what marketing chooses to exploit, and of all people LeBron James, the future of the NBA's success.
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By: nick on 3/23/2008 9:13AM
Damn, some of you are just plain miserable.
We should be happy for LeBron or any Black male or Female who are successful. Sorry I won't be the company that misery needs. Once we stand behind and support all of our people, Nothing will be able to stop us, but until then it's not the man who's holding us back,we're holding each other back.
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By: darkshadow4563@yahoo.com on 3/23/2008 9:27AM
I didn't see it that way either. I only saw it as black man white woman which I am sick to death of. That alone prevented me from even picking up the magazine and looking through it. I really like LeBron, but that cover just didn't sit well with me. Sometimes the views of others will help you see the hidden message. Sometimes it's correct and sometimes it's not.
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