Vanity Fair goes the 'O.J.' route on Tiger
January 5, 2010 No Comments
If Tiger Woods and the Cablasian community (where ya at?) had any doubts, Vanity Fair’s latest cover has confirmed the obvious: Tiger Woods is black, at least in the way the cover portrays him. Tiger is black in an O.J. Simpson kind of way, photographed to look sinister, raw, almost criminal.
Of course, award-winning photographer zAnnie Leibovit took her shots of the famous golfer in happier times, but Vanity Fair’s decision to unveil them now is telling.
When Time darkened O.J. on its cover in 1994, people accused the magazine of racism. Now I’m not saying Vanity Fair of the same thing, but in the words of “Sanford & Son’s” Aunt Esther, “You betta watch it, sucka!”
The court of public opinion is very powerful, a simple gesture like this — while seemingly innocent on its head — could be very dangerous if said Tiger were being tried for murder or accused of sleeping with more white women than a metropolitan Hooters. Wait.
