With Super Bowl LVIII around the corner, Vogue featured Grammy-winning R&B singer Usher in their latest issue. But the internet’s brooding over why Vogue greenlighted the idea to have white model Carolyn Murphy in nearly every shot when she’s not the focus.
Usher is a multifaceted entertainer with many accolades tied to his name. He’s an R&B MVP with potent hits that maintain their chokehold on the world (peace up, A-town down). And now the “Confessions” singer’s headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show. So, it’s befuddling for Vogue to think adding Murphy was OK when he’s the feature.
Even if they sought to have a model accompany him on the cover, they didn’t choose a supermodel of color. In many of the shots, Murphy is either front and center with Usher or taking his spotlight.
The feature cover had Usher in the background behind a junior league football team. Black X reacted to the buffoonery, wondering if Naomi Campbell’s potential unavailability was the reason behind the caucacity.
“The point isn’t adding a model to the cover,” one person wrote. “It’s Vogue, which caters to a different demographic of women [and] gay men. There are so many models of color that would have been more fitting. But even if they didn’t want a cover without a white woman. Why Carolyn Murphy?
“Now, why is there a random white woman on that Vogue cover w/ Usher?! Could he not do it by himself?!”
“Vogue needs to STOP feeling the need to ‘ground’ their covers with Black male entertainers with supermodels,” a person wrote. “It’s utterly tacky. Usher is a global superstar.”
“Who are those random kids blocking my view of Usher on the cover of Vogue? Who is that random white woman? Why is he in the back like it isn’t his cover? On top of all of that, it’s not even good.”
“So, that white lady on Usher’s Vogue cover is not his wife? Who the hell is that, and why have they put a random white woman on there like Usher cannot carry himself.”
In other Vogue issues, men don’t appear alone on the cover, hence a supermodel, but Harry Styles did in 2020, and his doo-bop One Direction phase and solo career doesn’t hold a candle to Usher’s career.
Nonetheless, we’re bracing for Usher to take the stage at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium and set fire to the whole place.
The “OMG” singer announced his biggest TV performance in a press release on Sept. 24, 2023, writing, “It’s an honor of a lifetime to finally check a Super Bowl performance off my bucket list. I can’t wait to bring the world a show unlike anything else they’ve seen from me before.”
From July 2022 to December 2023, Usher entertained his Sin City fans with his My Way Las Vegas Residency. But on Dec. 2, 2023, the R&B icon bid adieu to his critically acclaimed show after 100 performances.
The legend has more in store for his fans, stirring up more excitement around his Super Bowl performance with a promo video.
The Super Bowl is Feb. 11.
