A new story in the NY Post brings up an interesting question: Are tabloid magazines racially biased? In the wake of the relatively light coverage of Beyonce and Jay-Z’s wedding last weekend, some are speculating that the disinterest from the tabloids was racially motivated. Gatecrasher’s Ben Widdicombe did some actual journalism for his column this week and found some disturbing results.
Are the celebrity media racist?
A top tabloid editor tells me that Jay-Z and Beyonce’s wedding was played down by the weeklies because “African-Americans don’t sell covers.”
Of the big five celebrity glossies out midweek, only Us Weekly gave Beyoncé the top spot on the cover. Other magazines gave her second billing to the likes of Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Aniston.
“None of the magazines landed an exclusive on wedding pictures, which would have made the story bigger,” said one tabloid insider, justifying why Beyoncé was relegated to a small cover box on his magazine.
But even wedding photos make less money for black stars, says another source. “Eva Longoria can get $1 million for wedding photos, but without the expectation of cover sales, Beyoncé might have gotten as little as $250,000 if she had sold hers,” says a top editor.
Magazine publisher and black gossip pioneer Flo Anthony responds: “That sounds to me a very racist statement. Beyoncé is one of the biggest stars in the world, much bigger than Eva Longoria.”
Anthony publishes Black Noir for women, as well as Toy Box, a black parenting magazine with a celebrity focus. She said: “It is hard for African-Americans in magazines. Only a few people, like Will Smith and Halle Berry, are mainstream. Editors really still think that only blond hair and blue eyes sell magazines.”
As another tabloid source says: “We have a saying, ‘Only Oprah.’ Oprah is the only black celebrity big enough to put on our cover.”
But Us Weekly editor in chief Janice Min tells me: “Janet Jackson has been on our cover twice, for two of our best-selling issues we’ve ever had.”
Min is also the only non-Caucasian to helm a top celebrity magazine. She acknowledges there is a perception in her industry that black stars don’t sell covers, but adds: “Typically, you will hear that discussion among a group of all-white editors.”
I do agree that the tabloids tend to focus more on white celebs- especially the unholy trifecta of Spears, Lohan and Hilton. I’m not sure why- maybe there are more white celebs who are screwing up in public than black celebs? Or maybe, as the Gatecrasher article suggests, it comes down to money. However, comparing coverage of Eva Longoria’s wedding to that of Beyonce’s wedding is not a good analogy for this argument. Eva Longoria courted the press every step of the way when she got married- from the engagement to the wedding plans to the numerous ceremonies and parties. Beyonce and Jay-Z are both huge stars and if they had chosen to go the Longoria route with their wedding, they would have been on every magazine cover last week. However, the couple chose to get married under the radar- even their guests are staying mostly silent about the nuptials. The only reason US Weekly had the wedding on the cover is that Beyonce’s sister Solange went to the mag with an exclusive. Other than that, the magazines didn’t have any info on the wedding. If the couple had shopped wedding photos around, I’m sure there would have been a bidding war over them. But just like their long courtship was kept fiercely private, so was their wedding.
The latest US Weekly and People cover images from coverawards.com via Gossip Rocks.
Yes, they are.
And so are most gossip blogs. This is why I read Bossip and Crunk and Disorderly.
And the privacy thing is a shitty excuse. Plenty of paps have crashed weddings, hired helicopters and all sorts of madness to get even the most elusive shot. But when it came to Jay Z and Beyonce, the only thing they cared about was getting a snap of Gwyneth Paltrow.
Yep. Rags are racially biased because most white readers don’t identify with black celebrities.
I think it’s just that people don’t like Beyonce. I can’t stand her.
A Rihanna wedding would be a different story.
Yeah but people can’t stand Angelina, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow either and those chicks gets covers constantly.
I think this a racist view of the matter… i dont think magazines are racially biased, at least not in this matter!!
Come on, let’s be real here… Beyonce and Jay-Z are in a relationship for years soo getting married isnt really an event… its something that was expected since ever!! there’s no real photos, nothing to spike our interest…
some rumors about a pregnancy that is probably not truth…
unless someone brings out some wedding dress photos, this story just inst juicy enough.
OK, comapre the last Jennifer Aniston post on here to the last Beyonce post on here. There are already five comments on the Jennifer Aniston one. There are only three on the Beyonce one, and it was even posted last night. There is more interest in Jennifer than in Beyonce.
I really don’t think it’s racially motivated. Beyonce and Jay-Z got married undercover, and half the people who were at the wedding denied it ever happened. There was a lot of security to stop the papparazzi getting in. So because we don’t have a million photos of their wedding, somehow the media hates black celebrities? I don’t think so. If they had allowed the media into their wedding, the pictures would have sold for millions, same as other high profile celebrity weddings.
I don’t think Jay-Z or Beyonce leaked any wedding news. The media caught wind if things being delivered and it spun from there. I, personally, don’t have any feelings for Beyonce. I don’t care if she is on a cover or not…has nothing to do with her being black. Black, white, red, green….If I have something that identifies with a celebrity, then I take an interest. Otherwise, who cares?
You said it the best, Megan.
iacwtp – You summed it up perfectly. The speculation before the marriage was rampant and then sort of fizzled out due to a lack of details. If B and JZ had shopped the wedding to the highest bidder there would have been as much coverage as a comparable “white” couple. Personally I find these two a bit of a bore but do respect the fact that their wedding was for them and them alone. Unlike the Longoria circus which seemed more about garnering coverage and less about love.
It’s racially motivated, as said above because the leading excuse amongst magazine editors is that black people don’t sell copy.
My point being is that this is due to lack of exposure/familiarity – which you can’t get unless you make copy. It’s a forced loop – and the magazines know this. Not to mention they extend the same excuse to any black face on a cover even when it’s shared with other white faces.
So all the people saying it’s a not racially motivated don’t seem to be reading it right.
Up until this point I’d assumed that it was just a rumour that Beyonce and Jay-Z married BECAUSE of the lack of publicity.
I swear, this is going to be the excuse toted around for everything until some trend/backlash breaks it: no black models on covers because “black people don’t sell copy”, no black celebrities because of the same. Yawn. At least try to update the excuse or something.
Ask yourself why people don’t relate to black people? Is there some underlying phobia? To this day I’m mystified as to this excuse for limiting anyone getting on a cover because when I see a beautiful person on a magazine that’s pretty much what I see first. So what are we saying here non-white groups aren’t as appealing to whites? And that’s not somehow racially motivated? That’s a bit hard to swallow given that the deciding difference is race.
If you want to argue that it’s a matter of Beyonce being ‘boring’ then let’s wait until Rihanna gets married and see what the coverage is. Or Jessica Alba.
Whites buy into beauty, I agree. Black entertainers (in a nutshell) promote negative stereotypes of themselves too often to be taken seriously by white readers. Beyonce is known for “booty-popping” and weave. Jay-Z is known for “pimping” the thug lifestyle which is selling drugs, selling women, and killing people. Seeing the problems that blacks have in real life, black celebrities who have real influence and power do not do enough to help their own. Most black celebrities sell-out their racial integrity for the almighty corporate dollar. This is why whites don’t respect them enough to identify with them. Which equals little to no copy at the newstand/check-out line.
Beyonce’s wedding is a poor argument for what is an irrefutable fact: people in the industry still believe that putting an ethnic face on a magazine cover may cause their sales figures to drop. Failure to grasp that it’s the individual, not their colour, that sells a magazine seems to be way too complex a concept for them to grasp, and on the strength of that, the ‘black faces don’t sell’ myth is allowed to be perpetuated.
Another area where it’s particularly bad is in the fashion industry (Naomi Campbell (put aside personal feelings about her for a minute), even at the height of her fame, had to fight for front covers, Eriq la Salle was the only ER cast member to not have a TV Guide front cover when ER was the hottest property around (and this was despite having done 3 shoots with them). The list goes on.
It’s pathetic but it’s the reality and a quick look at any magazine stand will provide ample proof of that. And I’m white btw, just for perspective purposes.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article2289097.ece
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fashion-is-racist-insider-lifts-lid-on-ethnic-exclusion-782974.html
Me at 12:02
What anonymous said. It’s the individual and their appeal rather than their ethic group.
I do actually happen to think a Rihanna wedding would generate more interest, however I don’t think that it would be publicised by most magazines either.
The copy myth is just being perpetuated to maintain a status quo – it’s as old as the hills and frankly I’m tired of editors kidding themselves with this lame excuse that *btw* perpetuates a self-fulfilling loop.
Seriously, how many white startlets/actors/personalities have you seen on covers when you wonder what the hell the fuss is. Someone had to promote them first to engender a public familiarity – one leads to the other, without one you can’t have that familiarity then being a selling point: at some point a Matt Damon cover goes from being “Matt Who?” to “Matt Damon” and it rarely happens by itself.
Let’s all consider what would have happened if editors hadn’t seen fit to splash Paris, Lohan or Richie on magazine covers after their initial famewhore misadventures. We’d all have been spared, I’m sure.
Good point, FF. Maybe it’s the p.r. firms that are racially biased. Rumor is a lot of people in the business don’t want to put up with arrogance of the P.Diddys and Beyonces but will put up with Alba snobbery and Witherspoon nastiness.
I completely and utterly agree with (the original – and still the most literate) Anonymous on this. It’s a poor example to prove a stereotype.
It IS interesting that more gossip rags ran with the “rumoured” Brangelina nuptuals than the Bey & JayZ wedding. But I don’t think racism or negative stereotyping was the issue.
It’s plain old-fashioned spite. The couple kept everything completely quiet until the day and the insiders kept schtum. So the rags are “punishing” them for not putting them on the cover, because they still don’t have a decent story – e.g. final head count, what they ate, or even how many sequins were on the dress.
Thanks, Mairead. That’s me. My note under my post is being ignored, I feel! Twice!
I still think that it is a respect issue. Either with the public, with the p.r. firms, or both. There’s just a lot of people out there who don’t respect blacks. 50 Cent and other rappers can get away with such hate-mongering and garbage! It’s not just the men, but the women too. Is it a character flaw for a black woman to not show her ass? To want a mature relationship with one man? To wear hair that hasn’t been sewn in? It might be commerical to white teenage boys and inner city children, but nobody wants to embrace the level of degradation and stupidity that black entertainment culture encapsulates.
I agree with kimberlee, most (not all) black artist (mostly male) promote a negative,unhealthy and unrealistic lifestyle that the ordinary people can not and do not want to relate to any of them and to be fair, Beyonce has been in plenty of various magazines.
I would be WAY more likely to buy a mag with beyonce’s photos in them than eve longorias. If i bought mags… which i don’t. I love to see beyonce all dressed up! I hope we get to see what she wore.
I also think its because no one REALLY knows if they did or not… and it was so secret etc. I agree with Megan.
Excuse me???
Booty popping and weaves is something only black women are known for? So you really think Pam Anderson’s hair is real? And what, pray tell, is Jessica Simpson known for? God knows the two are color spectrum opposites of the same damn thing. Vocal histrionics, bad hairpeices, airheaded comments, stage daddies and a seriously untalented sister waiting in the wings.
As for rappers glorifying a unfavorable lifestyle, uhm how many skinny ass drunken white skeezy rockers have been in and out of rehab? How many times has the average white entertainer popped a baby out of wedlock or gotten famous for playing a tramp on late night tv or did none of you watch Melrose Place?
How ignorant is it to place the blame for favoritism by magazine publishers and admen on the stars themselves? Ugh.
Maybe the problem is black people would rather by the album or see the movie than pick up a crappy magazine full of purses and clothes we aren’t spending that kind of money on, full of ads for make up that doesn’t work for our skin tone or other companies that don’t fit into our lifestyle.
Advertising in magazines (which is where the money is made btw, not readership or subscriptions) is geared towards to appeal of the larger population. And since the american population is 75% white, that’s who they are marketing to.
kimberlee, you seem to be putting an entire diversity of people under the sole banner of “black entertainment culture” and using that as a rationale.
That’s like creating a banner for white blondes, thus putting Cate Blanchett and Paris Hilton under the same banner. One does not stand for all and creating a group does not make them all the same.
It’s also like saying thug culture incorporates all rap music. Or Sonic Youth represents all rock.
If you have a problem with the images prevalent in the most widely promoted media involving black people then say so, but please don’t suggest that represents all black people in the media everywhere. And also, please note it’s a matter of the images most media outlets choose to make prevalent.
Just like which kinds of models or celebrities feature on magazines.
If you’re going to use Fiddy and Diddy as a reason to not go there then you’re going to miss a Pharrell and a Chuck D. under the exclusive banner you’re using.
I think you’re conflating your issues.
Lets be honest, most of the consumers that purchase those gossip magazines are female, so most of them would not want to by a magazine with a cover of a rap artist that promotes the ‘pimping’ lifestyle and does not have a problem with demeaning women in their songs. I would never buy a magazine with a rapper or a rocker that so obviously treat women like that.
Until mainstream magazines have the guts to test this ‘theory’ that ‘black faces don’t sell’ – ie. by using a regular diverse mix of ethnic celebrities over a 12-month period, let’s say, rather than relying on stats from weekly or monthly sales, and giving the public an opportunity to decide for itself whether it is in fact the case, then nothing will change.
And, in the parallel universe where such a thing might happen, the end of year reports might just show that the myth is precisely that, a myth.
It’s like TV – lowest common denominator crap to please, what the suits believe are, the masses, without ever allowing the viewers’ intelligence and ability to make up their own minds, to penetrate their narrow, profit-driven viewpoint.
Geronimo, thank you!
My pleasure.
Instead of letting black people cry RACISM everytime something doesn’t go their way, here’s another reason why Beyonce’s wedding may have gone underreported; who the hell cares??
They’ve been dating for, what, 7 years? The next step was either to get married or break up, but they’ve already been together for forever, so the fact it’s official now is hardly surprising or even interesting.
Hey headache, in my everyday life, I see a lot diversity. The problem is in the way BLACK ENTERTAINMENT CULTURE (not black attorneys, black writers, black jounalists, black soldiers etc., etc.,) markets itself to people. Very ‘lowest common denominator’ as you put it. The shit that black people put out there about themselves (much of which is unrealistic and exaggerated) is VERY unattractive and disheartening.
*oops, I was quoting geronimo*
People who chose not to respect black people are never going to be convinced no matter what. The lowest common demoninator shit is a cop out and is true for all popular culture. Headache is right, what about Britney, Pamela Anderson and all the crappy white rockers? If you want to stereotype black people you’re never going to be convinced.
Headache also makes a very good point with the marketing aspect of the gossip rags trying to get the highest readership by going for the majority.
This isn’t about racism, it’s about simple marketing. You’re not going to make money marketing your product to only 14% of the population (someone correct me if I’m wrong, I THINK that’s the approximate % of blacks in this country).
I would wager to say that if someone really made an effort to crunch the numbers they would find that the ratio of black to white covers is probably close to their representation in the population. That being said, can we move on to the real issue of racial inequality in America? I say we don’t rest until whites are adequately represented in the NBA 😆
Who’s with me?
No one has mentioned Nicole Richie even once. She gets covers all the time.
And re: FF saying “If you want to argue that it’s a matter of Beyonce being ‘boring’ then let’s wait until Rihanna gets married and see what the coverage is. Or Jessica Alba.”
Jessica Alba is a horrible example. She, in her own words, is less latina than Cameron Diaz. Latina divas Jennifer Lopez and Eva Longoria are both mentioned as examples alongside the white people in the above article.
Calling white people racist for trying to do their job is off base. I sincerely believe that if THEY thought someone would sell covers, they’d be on the cover. Whether those editors are wrong or not, it’s all about the dollar signs in their eyes, the bottom line. It’s NOT about some painstakenly hidden racist agenda. If they really thought that black people would bring them more money, that’s who’d be on the cover. If anything, label them as greedy.
It’s clear that black and white relations have a long way to go, but there are many groups that have it even worse off. Where are all the Arab women? What about little people? Even amputees decry their portrayal in the media. Howcome we rarely hear about these civil rights issues that I know for a fact exist?
And gays have perhaps the longest way to go of all. Do you think you’ll ever even see a gay person make it as far as Barack or Hillary in your lifetime?
In all honesty, I think it has a lot to do with it being more difficult for them to pull the proverbial “race” card. (OK, with the exception of the Arab women). Which is part of the problem. Calling white people racist every second has desensitized America to that word. People are getting tired of “politcal corectedness”… and now calling people racist has lost it’s meaning. Now many white people simply roll their eyes when they hear it. Nothing we can do is good enough, even if we’ve never had a racist thought or made a racist action. We’re still a racist and there’s nothing we can do about it. If you really want to start making a difference, stop calling people racist simply for existing. Save the word for when you really know deep in your heart that the person is displaying BLATANT and INTENTIONAL racsim.
Because otherwise you’re just labeling someone based on their skin color, which is about as racist as it comes.
@ Kimberlee- Good for you for saying that without being afraid of the backlash. NOBODY is allowed to have a negative opinion about black people, because it “racist”. I’m so sick of race, honestly. I wish we could all just STFU about it and get on with further disconnecting society, discriminating, and excluding eachother for more substantial reasons. 😉
And uh, Eva Longwhoria isn’t caucasian either… so I don’t understand that comparison…
Oh come on!!! I hate to say this but Nicole Ritchie does not count.
No geronimo, I get your point. Youthink the suits are making essentially bad business decisions. Why is that racist?
An unwillingness on the part of those who control the media, to give the buying public an oportunity to make their own decisions about what they will and won’t buy in terms of magazine covers featuring ethnic faces is, by default, cowardly, self-serving and ultimately racist.
No one is saying the racism is deliberate. I for one think it’s merely a continuation of the status quo.
It’s going to take a deliberate effort to make a definitive change but I guess we’ll have to satisfy ourselves with the baby steps.
Beyonce made the cover of People this week.
As for getting as far as Hillary and Barack?? Are you kidding me? Not to say that others aren’t missing out but we really shouldn’t be applauding for how far those two have gotten so much as shaking our heads and asking ourselves how the hell has it taken so damn long
Here’s a point. No one’s saying that magazines should cater exclusively to a minority, what’s being said is that group would, however, like to be acknowledged by having some covers.
And as for this whole ‘pulling the race card’ thing – it’s not as if there aren’t certain entrenched attitudes that lead to people generalising most blacks by their most publicised worst aspects. I’m seeing some of it in this post to rationalise certain arguements.
Come on people, slavery happened because certain attitudes justified it. The attitudes while not as prevalent now are still there for some people – or at least there’s an ambivalence – which then has an influence on things like this.
I mean, I bet no one’s saying racism doesn’t exist – but what makes you think that the minute it comes to magazine covers it grinds to a massive halt.
I also find telling a group that experiences racism how to define what they experience so it’s less bothersome for the priviliged group a bit ridiculous. If you don’t think you’re racist then stop feeling bad about it when you’re accused but don’t tell the people who have experienced it that they shouldn’t say what they think because you don’t believe it.
This whole issue is with magazine covers is like anything else – there’s a range of adaptability. Justifying the doing the same thing over and over again and then being surprised whent there aren’t magically more inclusion of ethnic groups but less, is some form of insanity.
Isn’t it more useful including as many people as possible then just narrowing your spectrum more and more? Suppose your core readership inexplicably changes it’s tastes one day? Or are you just bombarding them with one image and appealing to their insecurities so that that doesn’t happen?
You might not want to call it racist but how is it not when for some random reason a particular group is limited based on race. If you don’t want to understand that racism isn’t just about lynching people but is more pervasively an unchallenged attitude then you’ll never understand it let alone change it.
Finally, if you’ve been excluded and you’re trying to make your way back from exclusion, how is pointing out aspects of your exclusion and how it occurs ‘pulling the race card’? So you’re never supposed to say it unless people are getting strung up in the streets? The whole point of hilighting behaviour influenced by entrenched attitudes is to stop that happening.
As for my example of Jessica Alba – I picked her because she no more or less boring than Beyonce, and because she’s been with Cash for a while now so that either marriage or a break up is expected. I also sited Rihanna.
Btw, blatant and intentional racism isn’t the only kind that does damage. Just ask anyone who’s suffered psychologically from emotional abuse as opposed to physical abuse. Blatant racism starts with underlying attitudes, challenge one you might stop the other – or at least address it.
Wow, just a quick tid bit. All black women dont wear weaves and all black men are not thugs.
I wonder how many of us blogger’s really know someone of a different race.
I for one am black. My father was a Tuskeegee Airman and my mother a teacher. I have 9 brothers and three sisters, and we all have degrees. I have never worn a weave, I am not obsessed with my behind .. and I have never held a gun.
I am married, I have two children, one in college the other in elementary school.
Education was and still is the forefront in our home.No one strived to become a basketball player, an entertainer or a gangster.
It saddens me to see all of the negativity thrown at all blacks because Beyonce and Jay-Z’s wedding did not make magaazine covers.
Who really cares? They never confirmed a relationship. Why would they all of a sudden acknowledge a marriage.
I think they are.
Even when showing a black person, they are airbrushed so that they look acceptable according to European standards. Beyonce’s hair is straightened, her skin lightened, the eyes are much lighter as in reality, the nose has been re-fined…etc, etc.
The thing is: Black people play that game without resistance. Why is she not wearing an afro….is proud of her dark eyes and dark skin?
Would they still put her on the magazine front page?
I guess she doesn’t want to know…
The editors of the magazines in question are quoted as saying that they don’t put black people on their covers because they don’t sell.
What’s the debate? They basically SAID “yes, it’s racist, oh well, we want to make money”
Are you trying to explain why people don’t want to see black people on covers of magazines? Because people are racist, like the ignorant woman who said black people are thugs.
Miranda, these are unnamed quotes that could have come from anyone. When people make a point of citing a ‘top editor’, you can rest assured it’s probably for White Supremacist Weekly.
I tried not to comment on this seriously, because race is a hard topic for me to engage in as a white man, but some of the other comments have a good point: blacks need to stop crying racism all the time.
Seriously, it’s not odd for races to be underrepresented naturally in some fields, there’s no always some unseen force trying to ‘keep you down’. Like I said earlier, should white people start bitching that we make up more than 60% of the population but like 25% of the NBA population? No, because that’s just the way it is.
This persecution complex is getting really trying for white people, and like someone said earlier, it’s getting to the point where most people I know just roll their eyes and walk away when they hear people cry racism.
Lets be honest, who buys most of these magazines? Middle-aged white women. Do you really think they care about J ay-Z? That’s not racist, it’s just not their cup of tea.
Crying wolf is a perfect analogy, because by constantly screaming racism, you’re likely not to be heard when you really might have a complaint. The obvious truth is that younger white people simply don’t suffer from the liberal guilt our parents did. I never owned slaves, both sides of my family moved here after the civil war. I don’t ‘owe’ anyone anything beyond tolerance and acceptance.
Scott,
And I quote from the original post,
“Min is also the only non-Caucasian to helm a top celebrity magazine. She acknowledges there is a perception in her industry that black stars dont sell covers, but adds: Typically, you will hear that discussion among a group of all-white editors.
OK, blacks are successful as businesspeople, lawyers, rappers and presidential candidates (sorry, the list is not really that narrow), why not as magazine publishers? I seem to remember 2 publications called Jet and Ebony. Don’t wait for some other ethnicity to put you on the cover, make the magazine yourself and stop complaining. Then you won’t have to worry about some editor “europeanizing” you.
Nope. The difference in the black stereotypes and white stereotypes is that I can look on the covers of different magazines and see examples of white men and women who don’t fit the dumb white blonde/drunk white rocker stereotypes. These other portrayals that you see of whites are as common and as accepted by whites as the stereotypes. However, you don’t find very much black diversity in the popular black entertainment media. And that’s okay and acceptable to blacks who support the stereotypes and the ones who get paid by corporations to perpetuate them. If you can’t understand that it isn’t about convincing whites to respect black people, it’s about convincing black people to respect themselves FIRST and FOREMOST (by not referring to themselves as racial epithets in their music and by acting in their own best interests)then you will run the magazine cover that undersells. I don’t feel that black people should have to go out of their way to get the respect of whites, but if they want to see mainstream culture embrace them as a group and as individuals (and sale more mainstream magazine covers), they are going to have to address this respect issue at one time or another.
If your career is to portray the belief or philosophy that a person of a certain gender, age, or ethnicity is a whore or a bitch/animal, your stupid ass picture on a magazine is not going to end up in MY shopping cart, bottom-line. Plus, I prefer to see female faces (not behinds).
Love,
Kimberlee
Okay some of you have serious issues if you think that the black community dogs itself more than the white community. Blacks aren’t the only ones who lift up, glorify and emulate the worst of themselves. Must I mention Britney Spears and Pam Anderson again? As for music lyrics, a study found that the two genres most likely to sing about sex, drug use and alcoholism is rap AND COUNTRY!
There are just as many scantily clad hootches in rock videos as rap and hip hop ones. The term sex, drugs, and rock and roll was not invented by blacks.
Most of these black women who should be getting magazine covers aren’t perpetuating a thug lifestyle so why they hell is anyone even bringing it up? Britney makes the cover more times than anyone can count and her ass is nothing near someone anyone should be emulating. Even before her “fall from grace” her ass was on the cover boobs hanging out, airbrushed to maximum hotness and youth like candy before grown men and people were buying the magazines left and right.
I’m sick of reading these comments where people call out blacks for objectifying women when EVERYONE is just as guilty of it. How long has the white community used skinny ass, big titties women to sell cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc? What the hell was Mick Jagger singing about when he said I can’t get no satisfaction? You think it’s not there because Guns and Roses never sang the word Bitches?
Nearly every other song in the sixties and seventies was about drug use of some sort? You think you get points because they used metaphors?
Besides thug rap and all that isn’t the only form of black music out there. There’s Jill Scott, India Aire, Mary J Blidge, Outkast, Nas, etc.
Some of you aren’t racist but you sure as hell are eager as shit to pigeonhole black people into some kind of place. We call that stereotyping.
Pam you said it all, I agree with you.
headache, FF, and geronimo all make very good points. I especially agree with your last comment headache. I’ve known a few people both black and white that are not outright racist but insist on stereotyping other races and don’t make any effort to look beyond what is put out there by a media that glorifies trashiness on both sides.
Argh – I hoped to be more articulate than this but all of my well reasoned thoughts seemed to have flow away.
I was bummed by the relatively light coverage. I flipped through the pages of the gossip rags, trying to find dress shots. They kept on showing Gwyneth Paltrow and Solange instead. 😛
No, it’s not racism. It’s because no one cares that blimpo Beyonce, a Reichwing idiot, got married.
Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org
What I don’t get-if American magazines are racist, then why would Eva Longoria be so popular? Isn’t she Latin? And I agree with someone up there. I would be much more interested in a Rihanna wedding, Beyonce can be really annoying
Eva Longoria is on one of the most popular shows with the average white American woman right now.
@ headache & FF…. MUCH PROPS!
@ kimberlee….oh boy kimberlee. Some of what u say is quite disturbing, and ur missing major points b3ing made. You claim that blacks should blame themselves for the negative images they portray, but not all of us are 50, diddy or jay-z. Who owns mtv, vh-1 and bet? VIACOM. That’s a white-owned company hon. They control what images are distributed immensely. Sure we have bad boys like jay z, and booty poppin hoes. But we also have the jill scotts, india aire’s, lupe fiasco’s and pharrell’s that are misrepresented. They are misrepresented bc they want ppl like u 2 think gang bangin and booty poppin is all we are about… clearly, and sadly….it worked.
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