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WHERE IS ANGELINA JOLIE IN THIS PICTURE?

Vanity Fair Just Trying To Randomly Irritate America

Bono?“Hey, art department! What’s his name, famous guy, the black one, he won the president award! Vanity Fair is going to do this up right! Figure out where he’s from, or where his dad was from, just make that really big. And then get another famous black guy, from the same place, or Kentucky, doesn’t matter. Don’t forget to put Bono’s name somewhere, also really big. We need this in five minutes, ‘kay?” UPDATE: Wait, this is a cover from years ago? Why is it being emailed by VF flacks today, to illustrate a, uh, Dee Dee Myers’ article about Obama being famous? WTF. [Vanity Fair]


1:56 PM on Tue January 27 2009
By Ken Layne
1751 Views

  1. Doglessliberal says at 2:01 pm, January 27th, 2009

    OK, that is just a bizarre picture. It looks as if Barry is putting the moves on Ali. Maybe with some U2 on in the background?

  2. masterdebater says at 2:02 pm, January 27th, 2009

    PLAYBOY!! BIG BOOBS!!! BONO!!!!

  3. WhatTheHeck says at 2:04 pm, January 27th, 2009

    I don’t see no big “Muslim” on that cover.
    Half-assed job!!!!

  4. Sassette says at 2:04 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Who the hell designed that cover, some editor’s 13-year-old nephew with MS paint on his laptop? Is this what publishing has come to? We couldn’t at least crop the photo symmetrically?

  5. Tommy Says Soooo says at 2:04 pm, January 27th, 2009

    This will just kill John Updike.

  6. What would anyone expect from the mag that had a nude and pregnant Demi Moore on it’s cover?

  7. The Station Manager says at 2:07 pm, January 27th, 2009

    The soundtrack to this cover is Careless Whisper.

  8. To be fair, the huge word “VANITY” right over Muhammad Ali’s head is pretty appropriate.

  9. Jobbotch says at 2:08 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Wait, but this is one of those 28 collectible covers from that Bono-edited issue ages and ages ago. July 2007, specifically. Barry was barely a candidate then.

  10. Harvey Birdman says at 2:08 pm, January 27th, 2009

  11. “We need this in five mnutes”

    MNUTES being the official horological unit of Muslin Africkan subsistence farmers, I presume?

  12. AngryBlakGuy says at 2:10 pm, January 27th, 2009

    …what the hell is Barry looking at?!

  13. Chickensmack says at 2:11 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Sassette: Whoever did the photo rending forgot to clear the spittle from the corner of Ali’s mouth. Oopsie.

  14. Cape Clod says at 2:14 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Tommy Says Soooo: Damn, you are current.

  15. CankleBiter says at 2:16 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Tommy Says Soooo: Your timing is hilariously funny/sickening!

  16. Condiments-Only Diet says at 2:16 pm, January 27th, 2009
  17. skyinator says at 2:17 pm, January 27th, 2009

    I once met Muhammed Ali. A class act. A thorough-bred among men. That’s all.

  18. Tommy Says Soooo says at 2:20 pm, January 27th, 2009

    skyinator: My pappy met him too. Said he was indeed a nice guy. My dad has met few celebrities. I’m sure he was shaking. Well, at least one of them was.

  19. “It was no accident that President Obama’s first televison interview from the White House went not to an American network but to an Arab one.”

    I knew it. I KNEW IT!

  20. freakishlystrong says at 2:22 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Oh dear, expect much over-wrought prose from our Peggington Noonington on this one…

  21. BobLoblawLawBlog says at 2:22 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Tommy Says Soooo: I love that I find out about the passing of people I respect through snark.

  22. Mr Blifil says at 2:22 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Barry should probably spend a little less time celebrating draft dodgers. Boner won’t like.

  23. Mr Blifil says at 2:24 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Jobbotch: Don’t you get it? Now they can be yours on a fucking PLATE! Don’t just sit there motherfucker, get to the PHONE!

  24. insert_namehere says at 2:24 pm, January 27th, 2009

    I do believe that “Bono” is the Swahili word for “irritating gnat”.

    This is why Africa needs bed netting.

  25. sarahconnor says at 2:25 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Harvey Birdman: can’t they just show Ali sitting on Madge’s face while Obama fists her? And A-Rod, also.

  26. Where on Ali is Obama’s hand reaching??? zOMG, Ali/Obama fan fun!

    I like how his arm disappears up to the elbow behind the word “Africa” though–like he’s groping the Heart of Darkness. Or the boxer balls of darkness, or something.

  27. Jobbotch: True; it’s an old one. But then it has a feature on Princess Diana, so it was behind the times too.

  28. Noocular Jane says at 2:30 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Dammit wheelie - I was totally gonna point out the “if all else fails - add Princess DI” element. We are nothing, if not shallow.

  29. Doglessliberal says at 2:30 pm, January 27th, 2009

    BobLoblawLawBlog: “Each morning my characters greet me with misty faces willing, though chilled, to muster for another day’s progress through the dazzling quicksand, the marsh of blank paper.”

    RIP, Updike.

  30. sarcasticusername says at 2:30 pm, January 27th, 2009

    um it’s a little awkward to think that barry struck that exact same “oops i’ve got a boner” pose for a cover shoot with michelle; i wonder did he whisper the same sweet nothings to ali as well? judging from the much less amused expression on ali’s face than that which michelle sported, i’m going to guess that he is.

  31. magic titty says at 2:32 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Bono guest edited that issue? Is that why his big dumb name is so relentlessly plastered on the cover? He needs to go the way of Palin and Joe the Dickbag. Away. Forever.

  32. V572625694 says at 2:33 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Sassette: Just imagine if Wired had done this cover.

  33. V572625694 says at 2:34 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Doglessliberal: Sad about Updike. Rabbit is Rich, Rabbit at Rest…does realistic fiction get any better than that?

  34. Mr Blifil says at 2:36 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Sproutz: After everything Ali has been through, the least he deserves if a little friendly reach-around action from the sitting POTUS. He picked up the habit in prison.

  35. space stout says at 2:37 pm, January 27th, 2009

    sarahconnor: and maya can read a poem about the shenanigans. and have buttseks. also.

  36. Doglessliberal says at 2:38 pm, January 27th, 2009

    V572625694: I read my first Updike when I was about 11 or 12. It blew my mind that someone could do that with words. His books were creations, not just stories.

  37. Randomhookup says at 3:05 pm, January 27th, 2009

    To be fair, Sonny Bono hasn’t really been a big newsmaker lately. I’m not sure I understand all the fuss.

  38. Sussemilch says at 3:06 pm, January 27th, 2009
  39. WalnutsIsMyCo-Pilot says at 3:18 pm, January 27th, 2009

    What the hell kind of GD photo is this?! Lighting FAIL.

  40. I like how they positioned them in such a way that their outlines make the shape of Africa.
    No?
    Madagascar maybe?

  41. Fivetree says at 3:24 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Madonna must be pitching a FIT right now.

  42. Of course Bono is guest editing an issue about Africa, he’s got a new U2 album to promote. Though I think we should all take the time to congratulate him on the sheer amount of humility it must have took to make his name third largest on the cover. Although he did make “AFRICA” transparent and less readable so that “BONO” really pops.

    http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/

  43. lawrenceofthedesert says at 4:16 pm, January 27th, 2009

    John Updike had 500 rejection slips from The New Yorker before he was 18; they should have quit while they were ahead. The Rabbit books were so-so and the rest awful. His criticism was pompous and patronizing. He was the George Will of literature.

  44. Tommy Says Soooo says at 4:38 pm, January 27th, 2009

    lawrenceofthedesert: I wuv you. Though Will has better hair.

  45. Schadenfried says at 4:50 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Doglessliberal: ZOMG HUSSEIN NOBAMA IS GHEY HOMO SECKSHUL MUSLIN!!!!!111 /wingnut

  46. Hmmm…Bono’s name in bright white letters over a faded Africa. Am I supposed to read something into that?

  47. Miller: Because nothing sells a 2009 rock album like a Vanity Fair cover from 2007.

    Good luck with that terrific blog of yours, you know, the one nobody reads.

  48. rocktonsammy says at 6:39 pm, January 27th, 2009

    DOWN GO FRAZIER DOWN GOES FRAZIER DOWN GOES FRAZIER

  49. hobospacejungle says at 7:43 pm, January 27th, 2009

    Sussemilch: WIN. Excellent skillz, Milky.

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