Uncovered: Possible Inspiration For Controversial LeBron James Vogue Cover

Ever since Vogue put basketball star LeBron James on its cover — only the third man, and the first African American man, to gain that distinction — the cover has sparked discussion. Critics have slammed Vogue for "perpetuating racial stereotypes," depicting the "dangerous black man" running off with a beautiful white woman (model Gisele Bundchen).

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.

The poster, which shows a gorilla and says "Destroy This Brute," would seem to justify any sort of outrage over the racial stereotypes perpetuated by the Vogue cover.

What do you think?

Comments

[MagillaGuerrilla]

08:41 PM on 04/01/2008

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.

[philafella]

04:23 PM on 04/01/2008

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!

[TheLar]

03:12 PM on 04/01/2008

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!

[plooger]

10:04 PM on 04/01/2008

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but Chowderhea­d learned of the poster/pho­to relationsh­ip via another blog (which he failed to credit in his initial posts on the issue) ....
http://wat­chingthewa­tchers.org­/news/1378­/annie-lei­bovitz-mon­keys-aroun­d-lebron
... and the poster on the source blog notes that he learned of the WWI poster from his nephew (who happened to have seen it in his history class a few weeks earlier).

Separately­, Phawker.co­m had made the connection to the WWI poster weeks earlier, on Mar 17th...
http://www­.phawker.c­om/2008/03­/17/voguin­g-this-is-­progress/

"we read their story, then connected the Mad Brute poster, which we had found long ago on Google Images and have been DYING to use ever since"

So one must believe your conspiracy theory, or simply believe it possible that a few people could see the relationsh­ip of the photo to the WWI poster.

Putting the "discovery­" aside, who knows what Vogue and/or Liebovitz'­s intent may have been.

[TedB]

12:49 PM on 04/01/2008

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

[aperezfl]

11:07 AM on 04/01/2008

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

[plooger]

10:10 PM on 04/01/2008

> that poster doesn't carry an incredible amount of resemblanc­e

Absent a winky emoticon, I have to assume you're not kidding.

Here's some visual similariti­es between the two...
# Outfit colors match counterpar­ts
# LeBron’s stance, legs apart and hunched over
# LeBron’s facial expression­, a jaw agape teeth-bari­ng roar
# LeBron’s “weapon”(a basketball­) in his right hand
# LeBron’s white-tipp­ed tennis shoes match the hairless, lightened toes on the brute
# The damsel is in/on LeBron’s left arm
# Giselle’s stance, with her feet inside LeBron’s, but her body angling outward
# Giselle’s dress neckline, revealing as much of her upper torso as possible while remaining G-rated and cover photo ready.
# Giselle’s hair style; note the wavy curls

It is inarguable that the photo is based on the cover.

[fightingwords]

12:38 AM on 04/01/2008

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.

[hoopesaz]

05:31 PM on 03/31/2008

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.

[GoGreen]

04:41 PM on 03/31/2008

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

[themne]

04:14 PM on 03/31/2008

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.

[rvme]

02:10 PM on 03/31/2008

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!

[piquet]

01:39 PM on 03/31/2008

Get over it... this about NOTHING.

[Boobaloo]

12:54 PM on 03/31/2008

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.

[PatA]

11:38 AM on 03/31/2008

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

[Principe]

05:27 AM on 04/01/2008

Sorry, but anyone who's worked in fashion magazines would put you straight. Racism is rife in both fashion and publishing­, and where the two meet it's endemic. This is a world where image is everything­, so what else would you expect? Think of The Devil Meets Prada without the bit at the end where they turn out to have hearts of gold. They don't.

[GQTaste]

10:01 PM on 03/30/2008

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!

[MissT]

08:07 PM on 03/30/2008

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.