THE SHOT — At the Harps grocery store in Mountain Home, Arkansas, Jennifer Huddleston spotted the cover of Us Weekly — the one with Elton John and David Furnish and their newborn son Zachary — covered up like a common porn rag. Be forewarned, Harps: Sometimes magazines put unmarried pregnant women on their covers! UPDATE: Harps’ chief has apologized, sort of.
JUSTICEONTHEROCKS
Well, they’re hardly the most attractive couple. Plus, the kid resembles Rush.
Whatever
@JUSTICEONTHEROCKS: You’re a genius.
MM
What an insult!
divkid
*smfh*
never in a million years in britain, or any other modern civilised western society! what went wrong?
the dumb-fuck gene obviously went over with the mayflower (thankfully it’s only passed down the breeder line. oh, and republicans)
Spike
What do you expect from Arkansas?!!? Hey, I turn Sarah Palin’s book upside down or cover put another book in front of it every time I see it at a store. Anyone else do the same?
Mark
Is that for real? It looks like a bad Photoshop
rodrigo
wow! I bet they arent putting any “family shields” into any covers that read “divorce”, “hottest bodies” or “cheating”…bigots.
Kevin Farrell
What are they protecting young people from? A poor execution of the English language?
Matt
@Mark:
I thought the same thing.
Cam
@divkid: said…
”
*smfh*
never in a million years in britain, or any other modern civilised western society! what went wrong?”
__________________________________-
You mean the country where bed and breakfast owners won’t let gay people stay in their hotels?
divkid
@Matt: me three.
now that i look at it again the lettering is off.
Kim
That’s weird I saw one of those sheilds on the Rolling Stone with the nude True Blood cast on cover. But two men and a baby in 2011
Soupy
But the covers bearing the teen moms from MTV are always shown. Because it’s so much more acceptable to have a baby at 14 in Arkansas
Shadow_Dragon
@Spike:
I do it every single time as well! I was with my mom and she was curious why I did it. I just shoke my head and said “She isn’t worth my breath.”
divkid
@Cam: this is at a whole different this level of silliness. we haven’t had anything like this since victorians covered up piano legs so that it might not inflame unhealthy passions.
those religious b+b nutters were immediately taken to task and widely ridiculed as cranks. now the courts have proven them so to be.
for all our faults in the uk, moral crusades (such as your purity rings; surrendered wives…mtv skins! et al.) and religious fanaticism, just don’t fly that well over here. (international terrorism aside)
oh, and all that having been said this might be fake anyway. so thanks queerty if i’m made too look like rush-to-judgement fool.
One of the CA 36,000
@Soupy: Well, in some parts of the South an unmarried girl of 14 is already considered a hopeless spinster. Of course she’ll give it up to anything with a penis and more than five teeth.
tallskin2
This is deeply offensive and if you people over there in Yankie-doodle land cannot see that, then you really do need help.
And to compare this offensiveness with the B&B bigots, who are widely condemned and have been prosecuted, is, quite frankly, just another example of badly educated dumbarse yanks who cannot read.
Adam
No, it’s not offensive. Why should it be offensive? We have no problem laughing at every gay stereotype on that Doritos commercial. It’s all in good humor, right? No big thing. The straights don’t REALLY think that way about us. Well, lo and behold, a harmless cover is being censored. Go on, laugh it up, too.
KJM1968
If it wasn’t for the “dumbarse yanks” you would all be speaking German now.
Soupy
Germany is in a better state economically than the U.S. these days. German would be a handy language to have.
Francis
Supposedly, the picture was photoshopped, there was a cover on the Elton cover photos, and it has been removed.
Honestly, I laughed when I read about this. It’s truly so ridiculous in every single way. 2 guys and a baby are “offensive”? Really says a whole heck of a lot about the type of culture there in Arkansas.
Kenny
I wonder if Harp’s covered up People Magazine’s 2009 cover that featured Bristol Palin & her infant son or is promotion of illegitimacy & teen pregnancy ok in Arkansas?
ALEX
@MM: I live in Bentonville, AR and ran (OK, drove) to our local Harp’s in pissed-off mode only to discover there was no censorship of this magazine. Another report from a town up the road (Bella Vista) came back the same – no censored magazines. Also, this is World HQ of Walmart town, and the local Walmarts have not censored this at all. I think this – if not photoshopped – is done by on site managers rather than by the chain itself…
adman
@KJM1968: Well, possibly, but We’d definately be speaking Russian, so there’s that.
ewe
What do you expect? IT’S FREAKIN ARKANSAS.
ewe
@ALEX: good to know. Nice that you are there too. I take my previous statement back. I only meant to insult hateful homophobes.
ALEX
@ewe: Thanks, Ewe. No offense taken! I sometimes feel that way myself and I live here…anyway, AR has a Democratic Governor, LT. Governor, Secretary of State, and until the last election two US Senators from the Dems. Of course, Mark Pryor, current US Senator and son of beloved former US Senator David Pryor, is not always a reliable Democratic vote. And you should see his ads at election time. I can’t remember the last time I saw a ‘candid’ shot that did not involve him fishing, hunting, shooting, wearing camouflage, etc.
Manic
This is highly amusing. Cosmo magazines bearing scantily clad women with the words “BAD GIRL SEX! GIVE HIM THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE!” are just fine at children’s eye-level, but suddenly this is too racy.
I’m just sad that Elton John and his partner went with Assisted Reproductive Technology rather than adopting a child who’s waiting for a family, but that’s another matter altogether.
Ernest
@Spike:
I thought I was the only one! I am sick of biggoted assholes ruining our Country! The only thing wrong with America is the fat bastards sitting behind their desks on Capitol Hill, making decisions for the American people as a whole. Obama is just a string puppet for America, he can’t get anything done, The BUSH family fucked America up so bad that America is going to fall and Collapse and we are soon to be fucked! Yet it’s no big deal when they show half naked women but two fully clothed men they censor. Democrats need to grow some fucking balls. Republicans never budge or tuck their tail between their legs and compromise yet the Democrats do. Even a Blind Gynocologist can see they are pussies!
Robert
It’s amazing that the store owner thinks his stunt matters in a world where the very people whose he’s trying “protect” probably never miss an episode of EXTRA, The View, or Kathy Lee and Hoda on cable or satellite, subscribe to the National Inquirer, and are secretly surfing the internet under the pretense of being informed about the content from which they must protect others.
JUSTICEONTHEROCKS
@tallskin2: You keep saying arse. This suggests to me that you are British or Aussie. If the latter, you may well be the descendant of criminals. If the former, you and your countrymen would be speaking German right now if it weren’t for us. So I wouldn’t be so superior.
Andy
@divkid: Pipe down, homosexuality was legal in Britain until the 70’s.
divkid
@Andy: !?!!?!
settle down nurse will be along soon.
Benjamin
Well, what’s to be said about that other than to mention how totally bigoted and unacceptable that is? Even after every example of incorrigible homophobic behavior that I’ve seen or been subject too in my life, it’s the little things like this that are what manage to shock me the most. It makes me think, “Wow, we are no farther along than this.” Depressing.
MainelyButch
Hey, I am happy to report that I just came from Harp’s grocery in Mountain Home, AR and those signs are now GONE…someone must have beat me there to complain. All Elton’s covers are in full view along with the rest of the crap magazines…so at least they smartened up somewhat.
Jaroslaw
#30 I shouldn’t presume to speak for Tallskin, but I think he is referring to this self-righteous attitude that a lot of us have in the USA – (and I think some parts of the USA are extremely backward, don’t you?) – – we talk a lot about freedom, we even did a lot about it in WWII, but our own black people still had seperate schools, separate drinking fountains etc. DURING WWII, in the south. So be careful about bringing that up. I was also surprised to learn from a very well educated black coworker that black US military personnel in some instances were riding in cattle cars while the German prisoners of war were in passenger cars with seats. No one disputes the USA was a formidable force in WWII, but even then we didn’t do it single handedly. So bottom line, lets have some of this freedom for Gay citizens in the USA that most of Europe and a lot of the rest of the world has.
Black Pegasus
I wouldn’t wanna see those two horrid queens either!
We should be thanking the supermarket for sparing our eyes.
UGH!
Robbie K
I would have raised the shield to hide Elton’s hideous toupee..oh snap
cubbie
I have been in the stores now and complained about how offensive the christian magazines are. I wonder how long before they cover them up.
mikeandrewsdantescove
I say kudos to Dr. Phil for stepping up on this issue. I wasn’t a fun of his before.
Mike
http://sfholidays.blogspot.com/
Joey O'H
I don’t understand the “too X rated” title of this article unless it’s Queerty’s way of making a funny?!
The true reason people are offended by this cover is it shows two men, who are in a homosexual relationship, posing with their child in a family portrait type photo. That’s a no-no to many straight Americans out there.
I’m shocked and I’m not shocked that people were so offended by this photo. People in this country are too damn uptight. No one wonder everyone’s on valium!
Joey O'H
I don’t understand the “too X rated” title of this article unless it’s Queerty’s way of making a funny?!
The true reason people are offended by this cover is it shows two men, who are in a homosexual relationship, posing with their child in a family portrait type photo. That’s a no-no to many straight Americans out there. They don’t want to see it.
I’m shocked and I’m not shocked that people were so offended by this photo. People in this country are too damn uptight. No one wonder everyone’s on valium!
Elmo in SF
I guess they don’t carry “BITCH” magazine that I always see at my local grocery co-op.
Palto
I went to Arkansas once. A guy introduced me to his wife and sister. There was one woman standing there.