Photo: Qweerty.com

The first time I laid eyes on the Vogue cover featuring NBA wunderkinder LeBron James and model Gisele Bundchen, I said to myself, King Kong and Fay Wray.

The cover has become one of the most controversial in Vogue history with everyone from comedians to supermarket stock boys weighing in on the racist imagery the cover projects.

Did famed photographer Annie Liebowitz (who shot the cover) and editor Anna Wintour really mean to stir up controversy with this cover?

Of course they did.

Anyone who suggests otherwise is not being honest with themselves says Cord Jefferson, of Queerty.com.

The Vogue cover is inexcusable for this reason: Even if the photo was not intentionally alluding to the ape imagery of yesteryear, Annie Leibovitz and Anna Wintour, “experts” on imagery that they are, should have been able to look at that photograph and realize what sorts of feelings it would evoke in the public. At worst, the picture’s racist, at best, it’s evidence of glaring ineptitude.

I totally agree. Do you think Vogue magazine – the purveyors of mainstream fashion imagery – could have found something a little less menacing to dress LeBron in than all black? Or would dressing LeBron in all white be a little too much like all right?

LeBron doesn’t see a problem with the cover. But then again, he’s not considered the brightest bulb in the NBA anyway. LeBron’s just happy to be the first black man to bounce a basketball on the cover of Vogue magazine while holding a sexy white woman. Can you blame him?