Every so often a magazine does something that shocks the nation, causing outcries and abuse the world over. Here, we bring you a few of the most controversial covers over the past few decades…
US VOGUE, APRIL 2008, , The cover stars LeBron James and super model Gisele Bündchen appeared on the cover of Vogue back in 2008 and it caused a huge backlash in the US with accusations of racism. People said that the photograph gave the impression of stereotyping ‘aggressive’ black men and ‘helpless’ white women.
VOGUE PARIS, NOVEMBER 2007, , Bruce Weber photographed Carolyn Murphy and party promoter André J, the image of a bearded man in women’s clothes caused a bit of stir, despite Andrés notoriety in the fashion world.
GQ, JULY 2000, , Rumour has it that Kylie was actually wearing knickers during this shoot, so was as surprised as everyone else when she saw the cover sans underwear! GQ insisted she’d always been aware the pants were coming off in post-production, but it didn’t stop the shock waves.
DAZED & CONFUSED, SEPTEMBER 2012, , Considering that Miss Azealia Banks was the one who sang the oh-so articulate line ‘I’mma ruin you, c***’, in the song that brought her serious fame, it’s surprising quite how shocked everyone was by this cover. That, and the fact it’s the cover of one of the most notoriously outragous fashion magazines anyway. None the less, it was still banned in seven countries.
PURPLE FASHION, SPRING 2010, , What do you get when you cross Terry Richardson and notorious bad girl Lindsay Lohan? A busty blasphemous Jesus apparently. She wasn’t the first ego-centric celebrity to imitate the Son of God (see below), but none the less it caused an unsurprising uproar.
VOGUE ITALIA, SEPTEMBER 2007, , Sometimes the fashion world like to make a commentary on current affairs, and, in 2007, Italian Vogue thought it would be a good idea to make a not so subtle comment on the Iraq War. The cover and internal shoot was described as ‘nauseatingly tasteless’.
ROLLING STONE, 2006, , Kanye appeared on a 2006 Rolling Stone cover in a crown of thorns and posed – complete with a crown of thorns – as Jesus. Oh Kanye, how we do admire that ego of yours! In the story, which came out shortly after his Grammy win for “Jesus Walks” he defended himself with the line, “You want me to be great, but you don’t ever want me to say I’m great?” He’s got a point, but then there’s great and then there’s posing as Jesus great…slight difference.
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