The cover of a popular magazine, Vogue Magazine, featuring Kamala Harris – the new Vice President of USA on its February issue sparked online controversy on Sunday.
The two cover images featuring Harris circulated on social media that attracted ire from people. The social media users described the images as ‘inappropriate’ and slammed the magazine for disrespecting the new Vice President-elect.
One cover photo showed Harris wearing a black jacket with sneakers, standing in front of the glossy pink huge drape. The other showed her wearing Michael Kor’s powder blue suit against a gold background.
Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris is our February cover star!
Making history was the first step. Now Harris has an even more monumental task: to help heal a fractured America—and lead it out of crisis. Read the full profile: https://t.co/W5BQPTH7AU pic.twitter.com/OCFvVqTlOk
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) January 10, 2021
The social media users termed the former image as poorly lit and designed deeming it disrespectful towards the Vice President. In the second image, the magazine was lambasted for lightening the skin tone of Harris.
The magazine confronted a severe online diatribe with some even suspecting the images of Harris to be fake. However, the magazine confirmed the images as genuine.
While users called Vogue magazine for “whitewashing” Harris, Wajahat Ali, the contributor to the New York Times claims to shoot a better shot of Harris from his Samsung phone. Social media users also directed criticism to Anna Wintour, the Editor-in-Chief of the Vogue Magazine.
“I always say this: I may be the first to do many things—make sure I’m not the last,” says Vice President-elect @kamalaharris.
Read the full February cover story: https://t.co/sgSEgehrET pic.twitter.com/T5MO1WVcpa— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) January 10, 2021
Vogue apologized to and assured people that they have not lightened the skin tone of Harris in the photo.
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Whereas, the team of Kamala Harris said that Harris had expected her picture with the gold background to appear on the cover page of the magazine and the other one appearing inside the feature. The source added that Harris has asked for a new cover but the issue went for printing in mid-December. The spokesperson responded to the controversy in an email, reported CNN.
Looking at her face I can only imagine the interior monologue: "Wow. The cover of Vogue. This will be grea — wait did you take a shot? Really? Why? I was just relaxing. Wait, what? We're going with this as an option? Well…uhhh."
— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) January 10, 2021
Vogue response to backlash
The statement read that Vogue “loved the images Tyler Mitchell shot and felt the more informal image captured Vice President-elect Harris’s authentic, approachable nature — which we feel is one of the hallmarks of the Biden/Harris administration.
“To respond to the seriousness of this moment in history, and the role she has to play leading our country forward, we’re celebrating both images of her as covers digitally.”
The magazine also posted an article in response to the online backlash. The magazine defended the photographer and said salmon pink and apple green background had been inspired by colors of Howard University’s Alpha Kappa Alpha- “first historically African American sorority.”
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The photographer had wanted to reminiscence Harris’s college days and the powerful women who comprise the ranks of sororities like Alpha Kappa Alpha.” Adding that the styling choices of the Vice President were her own and that it shows “Harris at her casual best.”