whoever said you shouldn’t judge a
magazine by its cover was wrong these
front pages were flying off the shelves
and picking up the headlines he was
infuriated by the release of the Rolling
Stone cover welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top ten controversial magazine
covers a person with knowledge of the
situation says Michael Jackson has died
number 10 Michael Jackson’s death OK
Magazine OK Magazine allegedly paid over
$500,000 for the last photographs of
Michael Jackson taken while he was still
alive
and while pop culture magazines across
the planet were printing memorial
editions
okay decided shock factor was the best
angle from which to cover the story the
King of Pop is shown on a stretcher in a
head brace with his eyes closed a man
who had lived his entire life under an
unprecedented media spotlight MJ
couldn’t get away from the front pages
even during his last moments
number nine Britney Spears at 17 Rolling
Stone in 1999 Britney had just stepped
foot on the road to superstardom and she
was perfecting her girl-next-door image
employing the same tactics as she had
for her baby one more time music video
Spears appears on this Rolling Stone
cover as a mixture of sweet and sexy
innocent and inviting clutching a
Teletubby and gossiping on the phone
she’s uncomfortably young wearing an
open shirt black bra and pajama shorts
she’s undeniably attractive it’s PR
perfection number 8 the gun and the dog
National Lampoon you know what the
penalty for animal cruelty is in this
state no sir I don’t
an issue that deals with death in a
typically national lampoon comedic way
this vibrant violent cover caused quite
the stir
upon its release if you didn’t buy the
magazine don’t worry no dogs died poor
little guy
hopefully kept up with you for a mile or
so tough little mutt in the days before
Photoshop however this image means that
at some time somewhere somebody did hold
a gun to the poor pooches head in the
name of light entertainment its
eye-catching even if it is morally
questionable but ironically and
unfortunately a few years after its
release someone did find the dog model
at his home and killed him
number seven breastfeeding mom Time
magazine and be really breastfeeding in
the picture yes he’s really
breastfeeding in the picture we’re a
magazine to feature on its front cover
an image of a mother breastfeeding her
newborn child that might raise a few
mutterings here and there but substitute
the newborn child for a walking and
probably talking three-year-old boy and
you get colossal controversy if your
child can walk up to you or can-can has
a lot of teeth or can spell or can
because a I’m starving can I have breast
milk it’s too it’s too much the mother
in question is Jamie Lynn Graham a a
part-time model who with the help of her
son achieved worldwide fame the main
problem here isn’t the boob but the
mouth around it the poor kid hasn’t even
started school yet how will it affect
the child well I don’t know and the
people asking the question don’t know
but there is no human in the world who
knows that boy better than his mama from
sea to shining sea yes we care number
six the Obamas The New Yorker these are
not people necessarily that live in New
York and that are going to look at this
cover the cover of this magazine and say
wow I really want to read this and see
what’s inside they’re going to take a
look at it they’re going to say I knew
it that Barack Obama is a Muslim and in
the run-up to an historic u.s.
presidential election it take quite a
lot for one politically fueled magazine
to stand out from another but this one
certainly managed it Democrat Barack
Obama is caricatured alongside his wife
Michelle dressed stereotypically
terrorist while the Stars and Stripes
burn in the fire a satirical prophecy
it’s a swipe at many ridiculous and
offensive rumors that dogged Obama
during his campaign and it’s exactly
that that picture that caricature that
the Obama campaign has been trying to
fight throughout this entire campaign
editor David Remnick had faith that his
readers would get the joke but many
people didn’t see the funny side it is
an attack on those who would manipulate
and lie about him and we are holding a
mirror up to
number five Muhammad Ali Esquire here’s
a refreshing young man we found out you
were a Muslim and people got scared I
got banned people got scared you got bad
all of a sudden right as we move into
the top half of the table we encounter a
high-end cultural reference this image
of Muhammad Ali was created with the
martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in mind a
medieval idea most famously realized in
the painting by Andrea Mantegna Ali had
just refused to join the US military
because of his religious beliefs and he
was stripped of his heavyweight title as
a result there’s a report that your
manager Herbert Muhammed advised you to
enter the army no no no sir no sir he
couldn’t do nothing like that the
Vietnam War had a nation in hysteria but
Esquire magazine showed they could still
think straight number four the Boston
bomber rolling stone it’s something
taking many in Boston by surprise this
morning on the cover of the next edition
of Rolling Stone someone known in this
city but for the most sinister of
reasons two months after two
pressure-cooker bombs exploded close to
the finishing line of the Boston
Marathon killing three people
Rolling Stone fell under heavy criticism
for supposedly glorifying terrorism in
this August issue a stylish shot it
shows the accused Dzhokhar tsarnaev with
rustled hair and light stubble almost
looking like a rock star the image and
accompanying biography earned Rolling
Stone are reported 145 percent sales
increase compared to August 2012 proving
that where there’s dispute there’s also
dollars get rid of the gun toss it
please
too many people love you man don’t give
it all up don’t hurt everybody number
three Oh Jay Simpson Time magazine does
that sound like to you a man who did it
well I think I think the responses were
very very strange for a innocent man an
NFL record breaker Oh Jay Simpson was at
one time a national treasure in 1994 he
was accused of murdering his wife Nicole
and his legend became an American
tragedy that’s the headline that Time
magazine led within any
but the accompanying image became
controversial for more than just its
subject many publications understandably
had gone with the sports stars mug shot
but time allegedly felt it necessary to
darken Simpsons skin tone to make him
seem more menacing number two Vietnamese
prisoner Life magazine a photograph for
the front cover of a magazine it has
since become an iconic image of war in
general taken by Paul shut sir this
cover of Life magazine shows a Vietcong
prisoner of the American forces in
Vietnam this was a leading image as
public opinion of the war began to
change it’s a brutal idea that the
so-called good guys are capable of
horrible things and it’s a portrait of
the ugly side of war before we turn the
page on our top pick here are a few
honorable mentions
number one Adolf Hitler Man of the Year
Time magazine enum said nine leaked
e2coach a thousand focus a cover the
Time magazine has consistently been
forced to defend in January 1939 they
took the questionable step of awarding
Adolf Hitler their Man of the Year
accolade accompanying the issue was a
grotesque drawing of the Nazi leader
playing a hymn of hate
while victims of the regime hang from a
Catherine Wheel and the Nazi hierarchy
watch on drawn by Baron Rudolf Charles
van Ripper a Catholic who fled Germany
it’s Hitler as conductor of atrocities
as an influential figure and as a highly
dubious man of the year do you agree
with our list which notorious magazine
cover did we miss for more controversial
top 10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
you
magazine by its cover was wrong these
front pages were flying off the shelves
and picking up the headlines he was
infuriated by the release of the Rolling
Stone cover welcome to watchmojo.com and
today we’re counting down our picks for
the top ten controversial magazine
covers a person with knowledge of the
situation says Michael Jackson has died
number 10 Michael Jackson’s death OK
Magazine OK Magazine allegedly paid over
$500,000 for the last photographs of
Michael Jackson taken while he was still
alive
and while pop culture magazines across
the planet were printing memorial
editions
okay decided shock factor was the best
angle from which to cover the story the
King of Pop is shown on a stretcher in a
head brace with his eyes closed a man
who had lived his entire life under an
unprecedented media spotlight MJ
couldn’t get away from the front pages
even during his last moments
number nine Britney Spears at 17 Rolling
Stone in 1999 Britney had just stepped
foot on the road to superstardom and she
was perfecting her girl-next-door image
employing the same tactics as she had
for her baby one more time music video
Spears appears on this Rolling Stone
cover as a mixture of sweet and sexy
innocent and inviting clutching a
Teletubby and gossiping on the phone
she’s uncomfortably young wearing an
open shirt black bra and pajama shorts
she’s undeniably attractive it’s PR
perfection number 8 the gun and the dog
National Lampoon you know what the
penalty for animal cruelty is in this
state no sir I don’t
an issue that deals with death in a
typically national lampoon comedic way
this vibrant violent cover caused quite
the stir
upon its release if you didn’t buy the
magazine don’t worry no dogs died poor
little guy
hopefully kept up with you for a mile or
so tough little mutt in the days before
Photoshop however this image means that
at some time somewhere somebody did hold
a gun to the poor pooches head in the
name of light entertainment its
eye-catching even if it is morally
questionable but ironically and
unfortunately a few years after its
release someone did find the dog model
at his home and killed him
number seven breastfeeding mom Time
magazine and be really breastfeeding in
the picture yes he’s really
breastfeeding in the picture we’re a
magazine to feature on its front cover
an image of a mother breastfeeding her
newborn child that might raise a few
mutterings here and there but substitute
the newborn child for a walking and
probably talking three-year-old boy and
you get colossal controversy if your
child can walk up to you or can-can has
a lot of teeth or can spell or can
because a I’m starving can I have breast
milk it’s too it’s too much the mother
in question is Jamie Lynn Graham a a
part-time model who with the help of her
son achieved worldwide fame the main
problem here isn’t the boob but the
mouth around it the poor kid hasn’t even
started school yet how will it affect
the child well I don’t know and the
people asking the question don’t know
but there is no human in the world who
knows that boy better than his mama from
sea to shining sea yes we care number
six the Obamas The New Yorker these are
not people necessarily that live in New
York and that are going to look at this
cover the cover of this magazine and say
wow I really want to read this and see
what’s inside they’re going to take a
look at it they’re going to say I knew
it that Barack Obama is a Muslim and in
the run-up to an historic u.s.
presidential election it take quite a
lot for one politically fueled magazine
to stand out from another but this one
certainly managed it Democrat Barack
Obama is caricatured alongside his wife
Michelle dressed stereotypically
terrorist while the Stars and Stripes
burn in the fire a satirical prophecy
it’s a swipe at many ridiculous and
offensive rumors that dogged Obama
during his campaign and it’s exactly
that that picture that caricature that
the Obama campaign has been trying to
fight throughout this entire campaign
editor David Remnick had faith that his
readers would get the joke but many
people didn’t see the funny side it is
an attack on those who would manipulate
and lie about him and we are holding a
mirror up to
number five Muhammad Ali Esquire here’s
a refreshing young man we found out you
were a Muslim and people got scared I
got banned people got scared you got bad
all of a sudden right as we move into
the top half of the table we encounter a
high-end cultural reference this image
of Muhammad Ali was created with the
martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in mind a
medieval idea most famously realized in
the painting by Andrea Mantegna Ali had
just refused to join the US military
because of his religious beliefs and he
was stripped of his heavyweight title as
a result there’s a report that your
manager Herbert Muhammed advised you to
enter the army no no no sir no sir he
couldn’t do nothing like that the
Vietnam War had a nation in hysteria but
Esquire magazine showed they could still
think straight number four the Boston
bomber rolling stone it’s something
taking many in Boston by surprise this
morning on the cover of the next edition
of Rolling Stone someone known in this
city but for the most sinister of
reasons two months after two
pressure-cooker bombs exploded close to
the finishing line of the Boston
Marathon killing three people
Rolling Stone fell under heavy criticism
for supposedly glorifying terrorism in
this August issue a stylish shot it
shows the accused Dzhokhar tsarnaev with
rustled hair and light stubble almost
looking like a rock star the image and
accompanying biography earned Rolling
Stone are reported 145 percent sales
increase compared to August 2012 proving
that where there’s dispute there’s also
dollars get rid of the gun toss it
please
too many people love you man don’t give
it all up don’t hurt everybody number
three Oh Jay Simpson Time magazine does
that sound like to you a man who did it
well I think I think the responses were
very very strange for a innocent man an
NFL record breaker Oh Jay Simpson was at
one time a national treasure in 1994 he
was accused of murdering his wife Nicole
and his legend became an American
tragedy that’s the headline that Time
magazine led within any
but the accompanying image became
controversial for more than just its
subject many publications understandably
had gone with the sports stars mug shot
but time allegedly felt it necessary to
darken Simpsons skin tone to make him
seem more menacing number two Vietnamese
prisoner Life magazine a photograph for
the front cover of a magazine it has
since become an iconic image of war in
general taken by Paul shut sir this
cover of Life magazine shows a Vietcong
prisoner of the American forces in
Vietnam this was a leading image as
public opinion of the war began to
change it’s a brutal idea that the
so-called good guys are capable of
horrible things and it’s a portrait of
the ugly side of war before we turn the
page on our top pick here are a few
honorable mentions
number one Adolf Hitler Man of the Year
Time magazine enum said nine leaked
e2coach a thousand focus a cover the
Time magazine has consistently been
forced to defend in January 1939 they
took the questionable step of awarding
Adolf Hitler their Man of the Year
accolade accompanying the issue was a
grotesque drawing of the Nazi leader
playing a hymn of hate
while victims of the regime hang from a
Catherine Wheel and the Nazi hierarchy
watch on drawn by Baron Rudolf Charles
van Ripper a Catholic who fled Germany
it’s Hitler as conductor of atrocities
as an influential figure and as a highly
dubious man of the year do you agree
with our list which notorious magazine
cover did we miss for more controversial
top 10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
you
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