Amy Wood

So, LeBron James is on the Vogue cover, holding frail and pale Gisele Bündchen in his arms, and America gets its knickers in a twist.

Why is it that people take one look at a black guy holding a white (well, Gisele is Brazilian, actually) woman and, almost instantly, call it racist? I simply don’t get it.

The Vogue cover shows LeBron in game mode–a dynamic picture. He’s a model athlete. Gisele next to him looks just like a supermodel should: Beautiful and smiling happily, because she’s on the Vogue cover. Where is the fricking problem?

I see no hidden context, no hidden agenda, no racist undertones…NOTHING. Just a picture shot by famous Annie Leibovitz.

But, no, people take one look at the cover, have the idiocy to compare it to King Kong, and call it racist.

What I call racist? Comparing a model athlete to an animal. It’s not the cover that is racist, but the whole discussion, comparison, and the absurd wish of some people that LeBron should have worn a suit.

Because, hey, if LeBron would have smiled, wearing Armani while doing so, then, only then would the picture not been racist? How stupid is that?

Why do we have to dig and bitch and detect racism at every opportunity?

I’m not saying racism doesn’t exist, but go and look for it somewhere else, because you won’t find it on the Vogue Cover.