Jemele Hill - Are You Serious?
Recently Jemele Hill wrote an article for ESPN.com’s Page 2 Section regarding Lebron James recent photo on the cover of Vogue Magazine. It was stupid and basically just wrong. ( Article )
First of all - Jemele, you look like Charles Barkley. But that’s beside the point. Back to business…
So the point of Charles’ - sorry - Jemele’s article was that Lebron James image was somehow being tarnished through this Vogue cover. The cover story is in regards to the bodies of supermodels and athletes, with the cover featuring Lebron in basketball gear (strange, since he’s a basketball player) and model Gisele Bundchen wearing a dress. Apparently, this is tarnishing for Lebron’s image and is an example of racism? … sure.
Jemele’s main claim here is that this is an example of a black athlete being reduced to some sort of savage. WTF??!! You have to be kidding me. Obviously, this image is to show the contrast between brawn and beauty - she even claims this in her article. But she goes on to claim that this “successfully reinforces the animalistic stereotypes frequently associated with black athletes”. What the hell does this have to do with him being black? So he’s on the cover with a basketball, in an emotional pose. Sorry Jemele, that’s really no different than we see him every day - he’s not being shown as an angry black man, just an emotional athlete.
So, by Jemele’s logic, does this mean that this former SI cover of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior is depicting these two as a couple of pyromaniacs on the way to burn down someone’s house?
Come on now Chuck. Whoops - Jemele. Try to find some better material, because this is complete trash.
I’m not sure if all of Jemele’s stuff is quite so shitty - you can find out for yourself. Here’s her archive
wood and prior are in the kkk.
i think u get the last laugh AP, after all, she’s on First Take with Skip Gayliss! I think I’d rather have Milton’s job…
Skaboom -
I would agree with you that Hill’s article probably is much ado about nothing. You have to understand that she’s paid to be proactive and that’s what she does.
Still, I feel the 800 pound gorilla in this issue (punny I know) is that Gisele is dating a superstar athlete and he wasn’t called upon to do the cover. Tom Brady is a talented athlete known for his looks, style, competitiveness and athleticism, but it’s fair to say the cover would not have had the same impact with him in it. For some reason photo editors have decided that Tom Brady should be photographed carrying goats and that LeBron James should be pictured with his mouth agape and arms around a gorgeous woman. The subliminal message they convey is that Tom Brady (who dumped his pregnant girlfriend and and led a team that allegedly cheated) is non-threatening and LeBron James (a notable joker and small-market team hero) is an animal inside.
Back to Hill though, while her observations are sometimes correct and always provocative it seems she sees everything through race. The cover was intended to be playful but she sees everything through the eyes of a racist and cringes. It seems funny that Hill invoked Obama’s message in her column because he embodies the idea that people should not be defined by their race. Anyway, thought I’d offer some food for thought. Good talk.
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