Zoe Saldana is the April cover girl for Nylon Magazine, and I really don’t care for this photo shoot. The shoot itself looks cheap, and they made Zoe look like she was just being photographed by a friend (who doesn’t know anything about photography). Ridiculous. However, this is the first time in seven years that a woman of color has graced the cover of Nylon. Bossip criticizes: “NYLON hasn’t had a brown face on a cover since Lil’ Kim was hot (sorta hot anyway…it was 2003). We also found it ironic that the caption they put to put under their token Dominicana reads: “Stunningly Smart” which kinda strikes you the same way as all those well meaning folks who say things like ‘Obama speaks so well.’” Here’s more from Zoe’s interview:

Zoe Saldana’s leading role in the most successful film of all time may have been along time coming, but she’s just getting started. Here, the actress speaks candidly about Avatar, racism in Hollywood, and doing her homework in a mango tree. Here’s a peek at what’s inside – read the whole story in our April issue!

On moving from New York City to the Dominican Republic at age 9:“We went from this urban life to running around barefoot in the countryside and being taught how to gut fish. We were learning how to climb coconut trees – let me tell you, they are f-cking dangerous!… I would do my homework in guava and mango trees.”

On learning dance as a child:“That was the beginning of a beautiful f-cking romance. That was my Xanax, let me tell you… it put all my demons in order.”

On Hollywood casting:“When they say ‘We want to go white,’ they have a very smooth way of saying it, and the recent one is the word traditional. [I’ve heard] ‘Oh, you know, you’re just not what we were looking for, your skin is a little darker.’ Compared to what?! My skin is just my skin. It’s dark if you compare it to someone who’s lighter.”

On meeting James Cameron:“I’m thinking he probably imagined some Amazonian girl [for Neytiri] – I had really long hair at the time – wearing really little shit with like, a bow and arrow. I had no idea she was blue and nine feet tall. But for some reason, he was like, ‘You look so much like her!’”

[From Nylon]

Zoe said a bunch of similar stuff in her recent Glamour Magazine profile, talking to the magazine about why she “bristled at the mention of race,” saying: “Because ethnic is a word that doesn’t exist in my vocabulary. In Hollywood, you hear things like, ‘Oh, they loved you but they want to go more traditional.’ That’s the new N word. So when [someone says] I look ‘dark,’ I say, ‘Dark compared to whom? This is just my skin.’ She also told Glamour, “I want to have more sex, travel more, drink more wine and love life.”

Eh. I mean, I get it. Zoe Saldana is the new hot girl and she’s out there hustling for more jobs now that the Avatar whirlwind is done. Good luck with that! P.S. Hey, Zoe, do me a favor and fire Rachel Zoe! She’s doing you no favors!

Nylon cover courtesy of CoverAwards. Additional pics courtesy of Nylon’s slideshow.