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.