Side By Side, It Sure Looks Bad
Athletes and Celebrities, NBA, Race March 28th. 2008, 2:10pm
Left: US Army poster, 1917. Right: Vogue, April 2008. Who is to blame? The photog? The magazine? LeBron? Everyone? If this post angers you – and we suspect some people might be annoyed – allow us to direct you to the Shaq Facts, courtesy of the AZ Sports Hub. And you must read about the outrage in Blazer-land about Oden playing pick-up ball with the general public Wednesday night. But seriously, the imagery here is somewhat startling. (Oh, and it’s Kong’s 75th anniversary.)
Time For Leibovitz To Confess (Gawker)
96 Responses to “Side By Side, It Sure Looks Bad”
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March 28th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Hmmmm, this may get interesting.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
That’s either one hell of a coincidence or someone at Vogue thought no one would catch it.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
If you’re going to post the same comparison that Jemele Hill made and Jason Whitlock lampooned, at least have the marbles to tell us what you think, other than just ’startling’ imagery.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
ahahahahahahahaha
March 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Yes it angers me that they would dare to compare King James to Kaiser Wilhelm who is charactured in the US Army poster. In other words if this post angers you because you think its racist look in the mirror.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Fay Wray >>>>> Giselle
March 28th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Wait, Germans were black?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
wait so why are the germans supposed to be monkeys?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
King Kong is an amazing piece of cinema that holds up surprisingly well after 75 years. We sure as hell won’t be still talking about Transformers in 2032.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Wait, 2082. Sorry, it’s Fri afternoon.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
i thought the race topic was going on the back burner for awhile.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
until you posted that, i never got all the uproar.
to me, what james is doing is nothing you don’t see athletes, of all colors, do after a “score” (heh, heh… heh, heh… he said “score.”). how many times last night or tonight will you see a basketball player scream after a good play?
that’s the only analogy i ever got from that photo. it was like james is saying, “yeah mother f’er, look what i got bitch!”
now, if james had his arms hung around a paper mechet image of the empire state building with his right arm, and giselle with his left, different story.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I’m outraged that I can’t see the picture.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I like the Shaq Facts better when they were about Chuck Norris
March 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
that’s the only analogy i ever got from that photo. it was like james is saying, “yeah mother f’er, look what i got bitch!â€
I agree. And Giselle doesn’t look too upset about being “liberated”
March 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
I have an idea: let’s talk about race some more! Who’s with me?
I’ll start. Ahem, we Jews are smarter than all of you gentile bitches.
Who’s next?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
God I hate political correctness.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Those crazy WWI posters. I’m not sure what LeBron James has to do with recruitment posters from WWI, but perhaps Kong/Wray poster one or two would work better.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
How does every (insert race or creed here) joke start?
*looks around*
March 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
i for one miss the days of incredibly racist recruitment posters. yellow hordes ftw! i mean seriously we are killing these people but we cant make fun of them because of them being different? come on
March 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Actually, it’s not King Kong or a monkey. If any of you had any sense of history, you would know that Ze Germans were referred to as ‘HUNS’ which were widely characterized in propaganda posters of the time as a dark, evil monster. Also, Giselle’s smile indicates that she is probably enjoying herself so wtf is the big deal? Big Lead? I agree with Ben. WHat’s you position?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Those pictures are not even close! We don’t see her boobs and in the one on the right, she is smiling.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
@Hef: You motherfucker, this means war. Insulting my religion is almost as bad as insulting my favorite sports team or taste in beer!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I can’t wait to tell my kids that they can’t go see Bron’ play because he looked scary on a magazine cover once and that kids under 13 shouldn’t be subjected to him.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
we Jews are smarter than all of you gentile bitches.
Only the ones who don’t coach the Vols
/joke
March 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
“I’m a white male aged 18-49, everybody listens to me no matter how dumb my suggestions are.”
/grabs Nuts & Gum: Together At Last
March 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Unfortunately, Giselle’s tits aren’t hanging out like the former.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
March 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Can we insert a picture of Tiger and Elin in here, or would that not fly?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
this is the same photog who was giving the Queen of England a hard time while trying to do a shot with her.
This lebowitz lady needs to get dragged through the media by her hair for this mess she started
March 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Again the Army poster is not depicting blacks!!!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
well at least youre not being a dick about it, we all fucking suck for not knowing that
March 28th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
@JStyle: Agreed, but that’s obviously not the point that TBL intended. I really doubt he’s drawing a comparison between the Vogue cover and recruitment poster hyperbole.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Pretty common knowledge if you paid attention in 6th grade, douche.
QUick question: would people be offended by a painting of adam fucking eve in the garden of eden? sexually explicit image?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
She’ll probably get even more money due to the “free” marketing all of this have created. Look – we’re talking about friggen Vogue on a sports website.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Can we insert a picture of Tiger and Elin in here, or would that not fly?
You mean like in the comments section? By all means. I don’t know if there’s a pose of the two like in the photo above, though.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Wasn’t this picture or a similar one in the Jemele Hill article?? I don’t necessarily agree with her article, but when I saw the picture I realized where she was coming from.
Sorry if anyone said that already, I didn’t read the previous posts
March 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
J style gets the point, Moleman, you obviously dont.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
wait wait wait are you suggesting its common knowledge that they were reffered to as huns or that huns were thusly portrayed
March 28th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Is he making a plagarism claim then?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
oh i dont think the army poster is trying to say anything to do with blacks, i mean theyre german, that wouldnt make a damn bit of sense
March 28th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
both. context of the imagery indicates both. I guess if you don’t know what a hun is, i can forgive your ignorance, even though its pretty sad./
March 28th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
@TBL: I have a post awaiting moderation that links to a couple more appropriate posters than the recruitment flier above. Is it because there are links?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
As long as this leads to Gisele leaving Brady for LeBron and causing ESPN to shut down due to their employee’s heads exploding I say leave it be
As a white guy it’s not really my place to say what’s racist and what isn’t but that picture looks really bad…but maybe with the younger generations being further removed from the early 20th century is helping and unless people are reminded it doesn’t even register
It’s like that episode of South Park with the town flag when at the end everyone realized that the kids didn’t even think of it as a racist act because they were all people
/End liberal hippie douche speech
March 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Yay, Swandong is back and once again contributes absolutely nothing. Kudos for being so consistent.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
@roeth- i understand that art is supposed to be controversial, but when it brings the race card into it, over
March 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Excuse me while I go over to the effing Huffington Post to talk sports…
March 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
You Americans sure are silly about race sometimes. Then again, I come from a place where roughly 95% of the population is white, possibly more. So maybe I just don’t get it.
But as I have said before, JHill and Scoop seem to contribute to the problem, which is shameful given their national voices.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Hey guys, how bout them Sixers?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
As a white guy it’s not really my place to say what’s racist and what isn’t but that picture looks really bad…
Why cant you say what is and is not racist? what looks really bad about that picture? the quality? the people dont look good? bad lighting?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Oh, brother.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I have to admit that a lot of art and advertising is beyond me. Frankly, I look at this picture and think, “Wow, that’s a completely stupid, nonsensical picture. A basketball player dribbling a ball and yelling, while carrying a smiling white chick in an evening gown.”
Sure, I guess you can see it as racist or akin to King Kong. But that’s only if you really want to venture beyond the point where you realize it’s stupid and nonsensical.
I’m sure Chuck Klosterman is smoking a lot of pot and thinking about this at great length.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Did someone say they’ve seen this side-by-side before? Link?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
So, Butters, are you saying that the Klan should come out and say that they are against the cover? Or for it? My head’s about to expode too.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
@gonzo- look to see who they would be matched up with in the playoffs and get back to me
March 28th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
no i know what a hun is, ive never heard that about their portrayal but ill take your word for it.
what i think people see wrong with it is …. comparison between lebron and a large dark monster with a helpless cracker. now whether that comparison is stupid or not is debatatle, i think its retarded
March 28th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
King Kong was an ape.
Lebron James is a human.
Therefore this is a stretch.
This photo is racist only if you want it to be racist. Giselle is smiling, which means that she is happy and comfortable. The King Kong chick was not happy and tended to scream a lot. It does resemble that picture, but it takes some imagination and preconceived notions to link the two together.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Oooh, the Germans are mad at me. I’m so scared! Oooh, the Germans! Uh oh, the Germans are going to get me!
Giselle > topless, nippless drawing
March 28th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
@TBL: Jemele Hill linked to two pictures in her article, not side-by-side, but she used one of the posters I linked to that is actually of King Kong and not a German.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
And in the end, didn’t the big ugly ape prove to be more likeable and display more humanity than the white people who were trying to exploit him?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I’ve seen this a few places. Bumpshack had this a few days ago.
Yawn… It’s played out. Let’s go back to talking about toilet lady.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
What the *&%$ is a Jebus Chrysler Super Car?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
oops Nippleless? I’d rather not thing of breasts without nipples again. I’m going to the penalty box for a bit.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Yeah, but those Germans are always assholes.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Here is the King Kong pic from JHill’s column:
http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/0320/pg2_kingkong_200.jpg
March 28th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
As I have said every time that this subject has come up over the last week. If you want to compare it to imagery in Kong that may be valid. Does Kong have imagery that is inheirently racist? Sure. Did that occur to either Lebron (too young to care) and Gisele (Brazillian)? Probably not. Leibowitz is an artist that thrives on controversy (see Demi Moore pregnant nude 15 years ago). You are just making too big of a deal over this.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
@Roeth: +1 sir.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
this picture looks no worse than many photos of tiger woods run in newspapers all across america on a standard monday morning.
so is this photo racist?
http://www.wisconsinwx.com/TigerWoods.jpg
how about this?
http://kriskrug.com/images/tiger-woods-masters-shot-nike.jpg
is this photo of vince young racist?
http://www.texansrock.com/files/images/vince%20young.jpg
btw, i heard where james said this photo didn’t bother him. if it didn’t bother him, this “debate” should die.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
i think the german one is closer than the king kong one. either way, retarded. but hilarious.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Jemele Hill could write a column about how tall I am and I wouldn’t take it seriously after her piece about how Kobe Bryant is better than Jordan ever was
March 28th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Irish, it may be the Magic! we have to overtake 5th place though. Tonight is a big test, we have the Suns (on our home floor). The fans are gonna give it to Shaq.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
@roeth- nice animal house
March 28th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
And when she wrote an article titled “Les Miles Is a Liar.” You knew I’d bring that one up.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
@gonzo- tough matchup for you tonight. If the Magic and the Sixers do play, i think it will be close.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
1st – 17th, Jezebel here
2nd – 19th, ABC News here
3rd – 25th, Jezebel here
But today over at Gawker was the first i had seen of the army poster and mag cover side-by-side.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Who needs ‘em? Not to mention the blacks and the jews.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The germans bombed pearl habor…
March 28th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I think it’s obvious that the Lebron-Gisele cover was inspired by the poster. King Kong didn’t have a mid-range jumper either.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Ah. ESPN did have one of the King Kong images, back on the 21st. Not side-by-side, tho.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
@Nick: You anti-dentite bastard!
March 28th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Here’s what I’m offended by:
If the Photographer is meaning to invoke the propaganda picture then the lady in the WW1 poster is clearly showing her tits, Giselle clearly doesn’t. If you are going to purposely invoke those images don’t half-ass it and cover up Giselle’s tits. Either be an artist or be a phony.
I think we can all agree to be offended by that one right?
March 28th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
@TBL: Even better, their picture was of King Kong and not Germans.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
You know what? If you would have shown me the vogue cover a week ago, I wouldn’t even have thought about Lebron as King Kong and Giselle as the poor white chick in distress. It wasn’t until the media started in on it that I thought about it. So to all of them, I say good job, you’ve done your work in getting the people all worked up by bringing up another race issue that wasn’t an issue untill you decided it was.
I think I just confused myself.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I just regained conciousness, I lost it after banging my head repeatedly against my desk because this stupid “controversy” won’t go away.
March 28th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Giselle: “Lebron’s cock > Tom’s cock”
March 28th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
cjzimm – now that’s just racist stereotyping
March 28th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
@Roeth: Only if cjzimm hasn’t ‘inspected’ both cocks.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Tom Brady: “Its true. I have a pencil dick.”
March 28th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Bridget: “John Edward has a bigger one than his daddy.”
March 28th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
So to all of them, I say good job, you’ve done your work in getting the people all worked up by bringing up another race issue that wasn’t an issue untill you decided it was
That’s just it…I’d consider it a step in the right direction that when I saw it I thought “Jesus, what’s Bron doing with Brady’s woman?” thinking that if there was one guy who could probably trump TB it would be him and never once slapped a racial dynamic on it
True equality and acceptance would ruin the lives of many writers
March 28th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
If you can’t see any racist demagoguery in the recruitment poster, I’m not sure what to say. Some people see race in everything, some people never see race in anything. Hard to believe either is accurate.
At any rate, I’d like to her the photog’s take on this.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Jimmy – Apples to plums. The cover shot was set-up.
The three photos you linked were all action shots during/after an event. Those reactions were organic; LeBron’s was not.
March 28th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
@Trent – I don’t see racist demagoguery in the recruitment poster because it is meant to depict Kaiser Wilhelm who is white! Look at the hat, and the mustache, the time of the poster, anything about it. It’s not racist! It is trying to deride the German heritage and culture? Yes.
March 28th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
The photographer clearly knew what he was doing here. I’m sorry, but if you don’t think the depiction is racist, then you’re just ignoring what the photo is doing as it relates to old racist ideas preying on evolution theories.
March 28th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Oh, you found the 1000th most well-known image of a large gorilla. Good job, Jemele.