Vogue Cover Stirs Up Race Controversy

A Vogue cover featuring NBA star LeBron James and supermodel Gisele Bundchen is stirring up a fuss, Dan Fleschner writes on an MSNBC blog. Some say the shot, by the legendary Annie Leibovitz, perpetuates racial stereotypes by portraying James in an aggressive "King Kong-like" pose, with Bundchen as the willowy white woman in distress.

Critics also say that there were plenty of better shots to choose from for the cover. "I couldn't help but wonder—what's the more racist response to the cover: to see racial stereotypes and object or to not notice race at all?" writes Fleschner. "This all seems a little silly," comments one reader on the Today show blog. (More Vogue stories.)