With Pride just a month away, Entertainment Weekly has unleashed the cover art for their annual Pride Issue, and it’s featuring some of your favorite celebrities who have been pushing the pop culture needle forward. Inspired by “the great murals and magazine covers of the 1920s and 30s”, it features a mixture of queer icons such as Rock Hudson, RuPaul, Ricky Martin, John Waters, Lily Tomlin and Elton John (and let’s not forget the culturally clueless Ellen DeGeneres, who, according to her is currently stuck in her $24 million dollar prison), with breakout stars Lil Nas X, Janelle Monae, Kristen Stewart and Laverne Cox.
“The cover — and indeed our entire Pride cover package —was created in collaboration with LGBTQ illustrators in an effort to make the Pride experience richer for folks stuck in their homes,” EW editor JD Heyman wrote in a post.
Taking Hollywood by storm! These LGBTQ storytellers and icons are creating unforgettable work in TV, movies, music, life, and so much more! Take a peek into how they landed a spot on our June cover. https://t.co/XjBzjakcbc Illustration by Jack Hughes for EW pic.twitter.com/gZJWD2BTBz — Entertainment Weekly (@EW) May 13, 2020
Surprisingly, it doesn’t feature any of the breakout stars of Pose on the cover, particularly Billy Porter, who, before Miss Rona decided to rear her ugly head and fuck up everything was having quite the year (of course they didn’t hesitate to highlight Ryan Murphy, who has more shows on TV than Tyler Perry at this point). I know it’s hard for some of you mainstream publications to accept, but there are plenty of underrepresented, groundbreaking queer performers besides the same ones you all like to highlight every damn year.
I was also confused as to why was there a brick laying next to Lil Nas’ right leg. We get the historical context of the Stonewall riots, and this year would have marked the 50th anniversary of the very first pride march. So unless they were planning to insert Marsha P. Johnson or Sylvia Rivera in the mix, I don’t see why there’s a brick there. Oh, and I’m not sure if that’s a chandelier in the background of a misty version of Miss Rona trying to crash this Hollywood party.
.@EW just dropped this upcoming artwork for #Pride and the biggest standout for me is that symbolic brick for #Stonewall hidden in the background. pic.twitter.com/skaujoB36k — Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) May 13, 2020
Besides that brand of confusion I’m hoping EW did their homework in regards to the diverse movers and shakers who have been doing their part to give a face to the always-evolving queer arts. I’ll keep my opinions to myself until the issue drops and I see who they’ve included in the magazine, but I”m not holding my breath.
Comments