king kong james?

Think this is racist? Its ironic that this LeBron James/Gisele photo is stirring up a racial controversy after being heralded by Vogue as their first cover featuring a black man. LeBron himself is pretty pleased with the picture as it expresses the raw emotions that he typically displays on the basketball court. But anyone aware of media images - specifically those of blacks - can understandably feel compelled to brand this as racially insensitive. It plays into that long standing fear of a savagely dangerous black man and is strikingly reminiscent of King Kong carrying a helpless white woman on top of the Empire State building. No, Gisele doesn't look frightened but that would be too obvious and the purpose of the cover is too generate publicity (positive and negative) not anger. You think they would make Dirk Nowitski, Sidney Crosby or Brian Urlacher pose in a beastly manner?

Even though Vogue is insisting that they simply wanted to pair an elite model and athlete, I'm sure the provocative tone of the photo was carefully planned out - because we all know that provocative covers sell magazines. And I certainly wouldn't be writing about a Vogue cover if it wasn't controversial.