"King Kong" Vogue cover? What's your take?

[bean fidhleir]

Samir Husni, a University of Missouri academic who is America's leading magazine industry analyst, said that he believed the image was deliberately provocative, given the care devoted to producing the Vogue covers.

"When you have a cover that reminds people of King Kong and brings out those stereotypes - black man wanting white woman - it's not innocent," he said.

John Hoberman, a University of Texas professor who has written on race and sport, claimed the cover "was an obvious and egregious exploitation of an old racist theme - the potential violation of a white woman by a physically overpowering black man, or King Kong".

Others have rejected the criticisms as just one more example of American hyper-sensitivity and political correctness over race. "America's got baggage, but some of it - including a non-existent racial slight - needs to be checked indefinitely," wrote Kyra Kyles in the Chicago Tribune.

More at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/30/wkong130.xml