In the midst of arguably the biggest year in Usher’s career and just weeks away from his headlining appearance at the Super Bowl’s halftime show in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, the R&B singer opens up about this monumental moment in his life as American Vogue’s latest winter digital cover star.
However, the publication is also facing backlash from Usher’s fans, who have been calling out the publication for seemingly placing Usher in the background of his own cover.
“Usher deserved his own cover,” one user wrote on X, formerly Twitter, of the cover that features Usher standing behind a group of young players from a local Las Vegas youth football team alongside veteran supermodel Carolyn Murphy.
Other social media users noted the parallels between Usher’s cover and past covers featuring Black men, including Vogue’s first, in 2008, with Lebron James. The basketball legend was infamously posed with Gisele Bündchen in a way that, for many, evoked the beastly imagery of “King Kong,” with Bündchen cast as the damsel-in-distress.
“They love doing this! [W]hen Lebron was the first Black man on the cover in 2008, they put Gisele w/him,” another user wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“[W]hy does every time a black man has a Vogue cover, it’s having to share it with a white model?” someone else wrote on Instagram.
Usher’s marks the fourth American Vogue cover to feature a Black man and the tenth to feature a man. Singer Harry Styles remains the first and only man to have a solo Vogue cover.
In the corresponding photo shoot, Usher is featured in all of his suave, gentlemanly glory. In one shot, he’s lying poolside in a yellow shirt-and-pant set with a drink. In another, he’s commanding a busy room and making it rain cash.
The profile dives deep behind the scenes into what his life looked like during his acclaimed Las Vegas residency and how he handled the pressure of such a busy and exciting…
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