LeBron James = King Kong?

#1
volinbham

volinbham

VN GURU
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
69,688
Likes
62,058
#1
ESPN Page 2 - Hill: Strike a pose

So now the cover of Vogue is full of racist stereotypes. Thankfully Ms. Hill is thinking for me so I don't have to...

She looks like she's on her way to something fashionable and exciting. He looks like he's on his way to a pickup game for serial killers.


Now, maybe the point was to show the contrast between brawn and beauty, masculinity versus femininity, strength versus grace. But Vogue's quest to highlight the differences between superstar athletes and supermodels only successfully reinforces the animalistic stereotypes frequently associated with black athletes.
Click to expand...

A black athlete being reduced to a savage is, sadly, nothing new. But this cover gave you the double-bonus of having LeBron and Gisele strike poses that others in the blogosphere have noted draw a striking resemblance to the racially charged image of King Kong enveloping his very fair-skinned lady love interest.
Click to expand...

As it is, LeBron was the first African-American male to grace Vogue's cover. Too bad it will be memorable for the wrong reasons.
Click to expand...

If not for this article, this image would have never crossed my mind.
 
#6
#6
all this is is an untalented and rarely read columnist trying to get her name known.
 
#7
#7
I saw a saltine cracker commercial on TV the other day.. A white dude was putting them in Chili. Can you believe this. Oh the humanity..
 
#8
#8
This was actually discussed as one of the topics on First Take, when she was guest host opposite of Skip Bayless. I personally like Jamelle Hill, but in my opinion you could probably find symbols of any stereotype you want to find in any avenue of society, then find some member of the academic community to back you up with data. At the end of the day for this particular cover, doesn't Lebron bare most of the scrutiny, if he didn't won't to be portrayed in this manner shouldn't he have spoke up. He certainly is not in need of publicity or money. When does personal responsibility out shine group agenda?
 
#10
#10
Much ado about nothing...He's at the top of his game and she's at the top of hers...she's smiling, not terrified and he's dribbling a bball...but I do like this photo better...just because Giselle's curves are a bit more (ahem)prominent...

jamesgisele2.jpg
 
#11
#11
After seeing the photo, I don't get it. I see nothing wrong with it. In fact, I am envious of him.

This reminds me of my English teachers at UT always wanting us to write a novel on the meaning of a 14 line poem. They read into them waaaaaaaaay too much.
 
#12
#12
Most of the media will spin anything they think they can get away with- regardless off how ridiculous it makes them appear. It's their job to "make it an issue".
 
#13
#13
If you read the cover this picture was to sell the "Shape" article inside. He is flexing his muscles, nothing offensive about it. If she was cowering in fear of the big black athlete standing over her it might be an issue. Oh and by the way he is not bearing his teeth. he simply has them open more like his basketball gameface. I agree with an earlier poster, this a piece done by a less than talented writer trying to make a name for herself at James' expense.
 
#15
#15
I've seen this thread for a while but just decided to open it today. As soon as I saw the opening thread and realized who wrote the article, I knew that what was going on. Folks, Jemele Hill is a hack (to put it kindly). Her very first article for ESPN had a slob job over that rapist Kobe Bryant and she lost more credibilty on a first editorial than anybody in history.
 
#16
#16
Stephen A Smith discussed it on his show yesterday, and a female caller called in and said the first thing she thought of when she saw the cover in the check-out line was the racist joke:

How do you stop a black-man from raping a white women....Throw him a Basketball

Steven A, ended his show with that call, but invited her to call back on Monday.

With feelings like that surrounding the cover, it's probably not dying down anytime soon
 
#17
#17
Smith wasn't helping things by pretending to be personally offended by the cover.
 
#18
#18
MG1968 said:
Smith wasn't helping things by pretending to be personally offended by the cover.
Click to expand...

The fact that ESPN Radio subjects the entire nation to an hour of Smith acting like George Jefferson on the radio every day is the most offensive thing of all.
 
#20
#20
droski said:
all this is is an untalented and rarely read columnist trying to get her name known.
Click to expand...
She's not rarely read, but she is untalented. She's been covering for Jim Rome all week. Jemele Hill is, IMO one of the most unlikeable columnists I've ever seen. She *always* infuses race into a topic whenever possible to get people to listen.
 
#21
#21
GAVol said:
The fact that ESPN Radio subjects the entire nation to an hour of Smith acting like George Jefferson on the radio every day is the most offensive thing of all.
Click to expand...
During a scheduling change, Stephen A. Smith ended up with an hour slot on the radio on Portland's ESPN affiliate. The complaints came on so strong, and ratings got so low he was dropped two weeks later.

Aside from the fact that he's an imbecile, the fact that he probably isn't even aware the west coast exists doesn't help in a city like Portland.
 
#22
#22
IMO, this seems to be a case of a person yelling race tends to be a little racist herself. Honestly, I'm noot in the media but I can't imagine how some of these writers even get a job.
 
#23
#23
volsforever27 said:
IMO, this seems to be a case of a person yelling race tends to be a little racist herself. Honestly, I'm noot in the media but I can't imagine how some of these writers even get a job.
Click to expand...

Black people can't be racist, silly, that's the white folks job!!

That said, I'm amazed that Hill has managed to stay employed, but i can't be surprised, seeing ESPN's "Cutting Edge, In Your Face" network attitude, aimed at some demographic, i don't know which, but odds are they are those dumb enough to listen to the crap time and time again.
 
#24
#24
They are appeasing the PC watchdogs.

And Jemele Hill isn't the only person on ESPN refer to that picture as possibly racist.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top