Many years ago, an unscrupulous hypnotist, without my knowledge, programmed me to crap myself every time I see an amusing caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Thanks huffpo. Thanks a lot.

If the photograph was inspired by this poster, don't you think there is a decidely non-racist statement being made. She is smiling in this photograph, she is clearly under no distress. The original poster is clearly racist. Don't you think that it's possible for a distinguished artist such as Liebovitz to parody an old racist, propaganda poster. Provocative - surely. Maybe you and your sophomoric arguments are part of her statement. And it's selling magazines to boot!

The fashion world is always pulling crap like this " where they get VERY close to something that some can label racist so that generates a lot of discussion. I"m chalking this one up to publicity stunt. See quote from the article below.

"Now, Sportsfilter blogger Rogers Cadenhead (via Portfolio.com's Jeff Bercovici) uncovered a possible (likely) inspiration for the Annie Liebovitz shoot: a famous World War I recruitment poster from 1917."

UNCOVERED? Bull. It should say "Annie Leibovitz, the photographer, sent this similar picture to Chowderhead so he would appear to make an amazing journalist scoop and Annie/Vague would get more publicity for this race-baiting photo."

And so, since I feel it"s all a big show, I refuse to discuss it any longer. Later!

It would be naive to dismiss the obvious graphic match as mere coincidence.

I'd assume they were going for King Kong...This is the King we're talking about here
And, to be honest, that poster doesn't carry an incredible amount of resemblance. I think someone has blown it out of proportion

I love how people suggest that there's no reason to critique racism in popular culture. Clearly The Birth of a Nation and Jazz Singer are simply "entertainment" and not propaganda nor a statement about the culture from which they emerged.

The extent to which our culture propagates and perpetuates stereotypes, thereby justifying and giving life to the personal anxieties of white people that then lead to racist policy-making is obviously lost on folks who are far less colorblind than in denial about the huge blind spot they have when it comes to racist imagery.

You see what you want to see. I see two attractive people posing for a picture. I don't think LeBron is an ape. Nor will I ever think he is an ape.

Has anyone asked LeBron what he thinks about the picture? If not, perhaps someone should before everyone get's worked up and offended on his behalf.

What bothers me is the lack of attention to detail...per the original recruitment poster, Gisele should clearly be topless in this picture.

When I first saw this mag cover, I didn't think it was racist until I saw the ape cover. The message is before, black men used violence to get white women, as symbolized by the club held by the ape. Now black men use sports to attract white women. Notice the basketball and club are both in he right hand. She is giving a social commentary. Look at black sports stars attracting white women, ie OJ, Tiger, Charles Barkley, Dennis Rodman, etc.

what a joke, and LeBron had no say in the matter? I for one am jealous, I would LOVE to be bouncing the supple, round basketball!

Get over it... this about NOTHING.

I dont know what Ms.Liebowitz intentions were but she's a highly skilled artist and photographer and would've known of the original photo and knew what she was creating.

When I first saw the picture, I thought it was a beautiful photot of two beautiful people, when the 'controversy' erupted I didnt get it, when I saw the King Kong image next to the Vogue shot I was horrified. If I were an African American, I would be upset too.

We have to remember that the 'ape' lie to define Africans as animals, not humans is exactly what slavery and ownership of Africans was built upon, it's disgusting.

I would love to know what Liebowitz was thinking.

JFC! You people are on a hunting expedition all the time. Grow up.
This is not a racist anything. Get a life, please.

Absolutely the stupidest theory I've ever heard!!!!!!!! And we've all heard some dumbass ones. Somebody needs to call Penn and Teller on this one!

When I first saw the photo, I thought nothing of it. When I started to hear all the controversy I didn't understand it. Then I saw the 2 photos in juxtoposition. The similarities are undeniable. I'd bet money that Ms. Liebowitz was familar with the original picture and the similarities to her own.

A picture is worth a thousand words. No one understands that more that photographers and advertisers. Just because LeBron doesn't have a problem with it, doesn't mean he hasn't been exploited. The average prostitute doesn't think she's being exploited either, but most of us believe that they are.

I cannot ascribe a racist motive to Ms.Liebowitz. But I will say it was meant to be provocotive. And that's one thing I'm sure she meant to do. As to our opinions about the picture, I think like all art, it depends on what you bring to it.

The mistake most commentators have made regarding the LeBron James Vogue cover is that they have no concept or sense of history regarding racism specifically in this country. Why should they when they have been free, white and privileged all their lives. If you live your entire life having to understand only your own presence and family then you won't understand how anyone else exists. The Jewish community
understands the importance of history and making sure no one forgets the "Jewish Holocaust." Black genocide on the other hand is never addressed in public schools or through mass media. Instead we get reflections of past racist media via corporate magazines like Vogue. 1964 might have been the year the civil rights law was passed but it was never enforced. So institutionalized racism is what we have today and Vogue's cover is a perfect example of the stereotypical "Black savage" as muse and white blonde bimbo as his trophy. LeBron James is a victim from the lack of positive role models in eth African-American, Latino, Native American and Asian communities we have. What we have are puppets of the system speaking for the rest of us. LeBron might make millions of dollars just like 50 Cent but they are both at the mercy of the corporate sponsors. Is it any wonder why Spike Lee made BAMBOOOZLED

Ridiculous comparison.

In the old poster, the lady is frightened, being carried away by the beast.

Note that in the Vogue cover, the lady is happey with her situation.

This is the age when anything, an act of commission or omission, real or imagined, is termed racist.

Here's what I think. LeBron is getting paid, will have no problem paying his mortgage, feeding his family, or doing a lot of things that other American's are struggling to do. This is also true for Annie Lebowitz, the big wigs at vogue, and a slew of others who would take our collective eye off the ball.

As for the theory of where the image came from I offer this. When the Rodney King story broke a lot of my so called "white" colleagues (not my peach colored friends) expressed surprise. My so called black colleagues (and my brown friends) expressed no such surprise for they knew all to well the nature of the police concerning brown citizens. So it is with the origin question for the cover.

Those negatively impacted by race can conceive that the idea of white male superiority is still the underlying theme in this country and every effort to say that publicly is pursued; just not overtly enough to be recognized by those who would sue, or who refuse to see, or who benefit and that is why they do not want to see.

Jeremiah Wright has got America thinking about its schizophrenic nature because it wants to be great but it has spent a lot of time dwelling in the swamp concerning its people of color.

An individual must resist falling prey to manufactured categorizations and see people as individuals with individual content of heart and mind. There is no other standard.

The purpose of any mag cover is to create buzz, which this photo did.

Any serious discussion of the social aspects of the cover is waste of time, it 's Vogue people.

There is no comparison whatsoever. The gorilla is holding a baseball bat and LeBron is dribbling a basketball.

If you seriously think that Madison Avenue is creating images without a statement based on manipulation you are dreaming. If images are devoid of meaning/subtext/triggers and are just innocently placed and chosen solely because 'they look nice'...you are drunk with ignorance.

It is all intentional and understood from every angle, viewed by a team of Bernays inspired manipulators. Wake up. Do you really think that things are just as they appear and nothing more. There is an intention behind the image chosen for this cover. Don't summarily dismiss a view because you don't see/believe it. I'd like to know what Sister Wendy would say about the cover.

I'm a black male and I don't claim to speak for all black people. Here's my take, everyone needs to take a chill pill and relax. To each his own. When we let ourselves get distracted with stuff as this as racism, then we've missed the mark. When we complain as Don Imus as "racist" when he's an equal opportunity offender, then we've missed the mark.

If we want to talk about racism, let's talk about the failing schools in minority neighborhoods, that leads to a continuous perpertuation of racial inferiority. This 40 years post Brown VS board of education. Let's talk about the high rate of incarceration of black and latino males in the correction system in America. This is despite the fact that there's no empircal evidence that any racial group is genetically predisposed to crime. Let's talk about native Americans in the reservation camps and the constant supply of gambling, Alchohol and drugs that's leading to a pathological disposition to alchoholism.

Let's talk about how we can really fix those issues identified above, so that we can level the playing field within the next two generations and finally eliminate the need for affirmative action and hence have a strong focus on celebrating diversity. Those are the kind of issues that needs to be addressed and not this crap about Lebron with the white lady. That's just a smoke screen...

if you look at some of the other shots from the shoot there were far better choices available, and yes his head was in the frame in those too. i can't imagine why they'd pick this one, even if it wasn't meant to echo the above poster or king kong or whatever, it's just not a great photo.

Has anyone making these charges about the racism of this cover bothered to look at the rest of the Vogue pictorial?

http://www.style.com/vogue/feature/032508

As a former professional photographer, I think this is great art - a fantastic study of some of the most beautiful male and female bodies, by a fantastically talented photographer, Annie Liebovitz. Frankly, I found some of the OTHER shots with LeBron and Gisele (yes, there are two others), swimmer Michael Phelps, and speed skater Apollo Anton Ono, even racier and more clever than the cover shot. Let's stop being so touchy people - TAKE THIS IN CONTEXT. When LeBron comes out and says he feels exploited or that it is racist, maybe I will change my mind. Until then, bravo Ms. Liebovitz!

"WHERE ARE ALL THE WHITE WOMEN???!!!"

OMG! They're stealing our limited supply of white women!!!