9/20/10
To Be Young, Gifted and Black…

…apparently means to be Photoshopped by Elle magazine. Or at least, that’s the theory that’s got ladies mag readers all abuzz. For their 25th anniversary issue, Elle just released 4 different covers featuring 4 different 25-year olds, “young women changing the world” they said, though they forgot to add “in Hollywood.” Let’s be clear, these are not 25-year olds working on a cure for cancer: Megan Fox, Lauren Conrad, Amanda Seyfried, and Gabourey Sidibe. Just reading that list of cover models (without looking at any visuals), and you can probably guess which cover is not like the others: while all the white, slim ladies get full body shots, Sidibe’s is close-cropped — and her usually dark skin looks suspiciously lightened. Digitally (and despicably) altering cover shots is the name of the game in the magazine biz (remember Jezebel’s awesome before and after comparison of Faith Hill’s Redbook cover?), but changing skin color seems beyond the pale. Elle denies lightening her skin and Sidibe’s publicist says she’s thrilled with the cover. But there’s definitely something going on there, no?

This post is a part of Sundance Channel’s Naked Love Blog
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