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

[LANDU]

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

[pkrishna]

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.

[plooger]

Putting aside that the Vogue cover is a reinterpretation of the original and not an attempt to replicate it to perfection (LeBron's not wielding a club, sporting a 'stache, wearing a Pickelhaube or an ape suit, either)...

... who says the woman in the original propaganda poster is frightened? Maybe she's flushed and overcome from having been pleasured by the beast.

[GrainOSand]

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.

[OrganicGeorge]

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.

[WillPower]

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

[Kilantra]

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.

[mindact]

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...

[AntiSocialite]

Well put

[philafella]

There is a statement being made. We live in a culture that has inherent racism. So when an artist takes a photograph like this, and sparks a heated discussion, the DISCUSSION is the subject, not the people in the picture. Do you honestly think no one at the magazine, or the photographer recognized the racial stereotypes. They used them to silly people mad. You sillies.

[fightingwords]

"Let's talk about the high rate of incarceration of black and latino males in the correction system in America."

Yes, let's. Let's talk about how continuing to present black males as dangerous beasts may very well be contributing to that high rate of incarceration.

Come on, now. It's no coincidence that white folks who are terrified by black men are also the ones who vote for politicians who are willing to lock up and incarcerate them en masse. See Willie Horton for an example.

[moda31]

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.

[jaypem]

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!

[quoveritas]

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

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

[groot]

i can't remember exactly when, but didn't michael jordan strike the same pose on the cover of sports illustrated some years back?

[SeagirlX]

I would never have given this a second thought. In my opinion, the people looking for the racial stereotypes in this cover are those who are frightened of change and diversity. And seriously, isn't that what this country is about? We're all diverse people from all different ethnic backgrounds. To coin a phrase, "Can't we all just get along?"

What's the point of constantly keeping the divide going?

[luckyoldson]

Maybe anyone who doesn't think the shot is somewhat racist can explain why the recruitment poster was used later by the Nazi propagandists at the beginning of the Second World War.

*And by the way, you can love Annie Liebovitz and her work, which I certainly do, and still see where the shot could be seen as being a tad over the line.

[triplbee]

I'm a black man who is not unconcerned with racism and I see nothing wrong with this cover. LeBron James is a basketball player who is mimicking his play on the court for this photo shoot.

[amandla]

Everyday Black people have to endure these types of psychological assaults and hear white blow them off as "ridiculous". Every, damn, day. Some of the West's pioneering anthropologists and scientists, in the halls of elite Ivy league institutions, spent years of research time and experimentation laying the groundwork for the West's racist bent on comparing Black people (especially Black males) to apes (read Stephen Jay Gould's masterpiece "The Mismeasure of Man"), and even today it is clear that those fallacies are still internalized in most white folk today.

As a Black male, this sort of thing is infuriating, hurtful, maddening, and frustrating all at once, especially when so many white people (of any political bent) can't seem to grasp why this would be the case. White people who can't understand why Black people insist racism is as bad as it's always been. In the media, the Black male and his image is constantly under attack (Barry Bonds, Jeremiah Wright, OJ Simpson, Letrell Sprewell, Terrell Owens, Ron Artest, etc.) and the assault will never fucking end.

God damn America indeed (and I'm sorry if that offends, but I really mean that).