Sun, Nov 22, 2009
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Name:
Teigh
Comment: All these years later...we are still hung up on race....down to a magazine cover! Did it ever occue to this ESPN person that the fashion world might not even know who Lebron is. How old is LeBron 20 something...dang the man was just having fun and enjoying the exposure. Did he have a chain around his neck? Was he salivating at the chick...give it a break already!
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Name:
Teigh
Comment: Do you think the Latinos got all caught up in how they were/are portrayed...and look now they are the majority and we are still talking bout ...look how he was photographed in the magazine. And folks wondered why Spike Lee started and ended all his early movies with the line: WAKE UP!!!!
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Name:
WhoStoleTheSoul
Comment: Hmmm...kind of a King Kong thang going on if you ask me.
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Name:
nightshift
Comment: I don't get it...I thought the cover was pretty lame if you ask me and seen better on a "Archie & Veronica" comic book. My complaint? why couldn't he pose with someone that was fairly decent looking?
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Name:
nightshift
Comment: W-S-T-S: he'd look like a giant anything against the average person .... you fool!!
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Name:
UKBrotha
Comment: Teigh says - "...that the fashion world might not even know who Lebron is." That's even worse! So to them he is just a prop, to be used in the model's photoshoot, playing the part of some big black angry savage.
WhoStoleTheSoul says - "...kind of a King Kong thang going on if you ask me." Yep!
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Name:
B00TANEB00TUS
Comment: ...I gotta agree with Jemele on this one...Bron looks like he's bout to ravish that buxom, blue eyed blonde and then...take her to the hole for a ferocious, rim rattling, backboard breaking, 360, death defying, dunk...WTF is up with the King-Kong-ish sh1t?..Beauty and the Beast sh1t?...C'mon man, they're calling that man a gorilla, a savage beast..."How much is that gorilla in the window?"...Take my advice there ain't no price...Posing like a gorilla ain't very nice...Magilla, Magilla, Gorilla for sale...fucc that sh1t man...
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Name:
Gurlfrand
Comment: I knew when I saw the cover in the store someone was going to say something about it. >nightshift - you don't think Giselle is attractive? She doesn't have a pretty face, but, she has a cute skinny body - that's her money maker there.
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Name:
khanman
Comment: Good old whitey strikes again and expects us not to notice his BS!
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Name:
McNasty
Comment: I'd be more inclined to be upset at vogue keeping their covers mostly white than I am some dumb as.s athlete allowing himself to be photoed as king kong to another lily white girl!
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Name:
TGen
Comment: I find the cover unappealing and tasteless, but I'm inclined to kind-of agree with Teigh that this is much ado about nothing. Sometimes we get oversensitized. Yes it was a bad cover, but I honestly wouldn't have read anything racial into it had I not read about this article.
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Name:
bigchassie
Comment: BOOT>MAN YOU CRACK ME UP EVERYTIME!! LOL!
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Name:
nightshift
Comment: no Gurl I don't think she's attactive. I don't get how he looks like he's going to ravish her...he's bouncing a ball...I can see if she was laying down or bent over, but y'all making too much outta this. I'm out, check please!
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Name:
DOne
Comment: I'm sorry, but that's a king kong moment if I ever saw one
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Name:
golfebj
Comment: I have to agree with the columnist in this instance and if you look at both pictures (Lebron/Giselle vs King Kong/Jane?) it's too similar to be called coincidental.
Lebron: 6'9" @ 260lbs
Giselle: 5'11" @ 128lbs
Mouth outstretched...all black. Not a good look.
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Name:
PgDn
Comment: the vogue cover is just a larger reflection of the american attitude that the all american beauty ideal is still white, blonde and skinny and that it's ok for black men to be excellent as long as they're using their brawn and not brains.
remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.
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Name:
Train
Comment: Gotta to protect the good white women and not let them get manhandled by the black beast (lol). Yesterday I found out that america still loves them some white chicks when down here in the ATL the "Barbie Bandits" got 2 years in prison and the other one got 10 years probation.....what a f'ucking joke.
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Name:
DCGG
Comment: Who gives a fuvk...dumb azz basket ball playing negra happy looking like Magilla Gorilla on the cover of vogue then so be it...at some point WE have to police how WE are portrayed...clearly he didn't have a problem with it...
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Name:
HarrisThomas
Comment: yeah, Train, the Barbies got "justice"
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Name:
Kulchaman
Comment: it will always be critics & things to write about, Lebron, keep handling your business on the court my brother...I personal passed through the mag on the rack, never though much of it, except he could have been dressed in a suit, etc..I wonder what would be said if they put one of those dimes from king on cover with him or any Nubian sis whose making moves right now..
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Name:
B00TANEB00TUS
Comment: ...The only thing missing from that pix is lil, bitty airplanes tryna shoot that muthafuccer off the building...Vogue is wrong for that sh1t...
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Name:
Train
Comment: >Harriet Thomas, those girls got over. If that would've been you and your homegirl you two would've got the book thrown at you....believe that.
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Name:
musbdherbs
Comment: It ur already predisposed to seeing race in most things...you'll see king kong in this. It's not a hot ad.....nor is it racist imo.
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Name:
ms325i
Comment: The cover just reinforces why I don't read or subscribe to Vogue. Black people are never photographed in a sophisticated or graceful way for Vogue covers. They always have to make us look crazy, goofy--anything other than classy and sophisticated. I remember the Jennifer Hudson cover they did a few years back where they had her in an odd pose with her mouth gaped open.
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Name:
deedeeVon
Comment: Annie Leibovitz >"Look ferocious LeBron, like a big black gorilla bout t tear her apart" "Gisele, look like the frightened, helpless white girl calling for help" Good shot! It's a wrap people.
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Name:
Southernbelle
Comment: IMO, it's just a dumb ad. WTF does Lebron have to do with Vogue? Is this a sports issue? I'm really trying to understand the cover's purpose. There are a small number of black male models who could have graced this cover and who do they pick as a trailblazer, Lebron? A man who spends 90% of his time in tennis shoes and baggy sports gear. It don't make no damn sense.
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Name:
beegirl
Comment: I could see the King Kong thing more if Gisele looked scared, but she's smiling her skinny behind off. It would have been nice if Vogue had taken the opportunity to put the first Black man on their cover with a sister, but we all know we aren't hired at Vogue, so that was probably never even thought to be an option. TV shows and now magazine covers make it seem like brothers only find Ws sexy. But that's not true. It's like it would kill photographers and TV producers to hire two of us at a time!
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Name:
Gurlfrand
Comment: Vogue magazine people knew their would be controversy with this cover - they knew what they were doing. Who even buys that magazine anyway?
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Name:
blackdragon
Comment: I think the cover is unappealing, but not really racist. Lebron James is holding Gisele Bundchen. If it was racist, I don't think he would be holding that woman. And the woman is smiling. I think this is much ado about nothing.
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Name:
katgrrrl
Comment: B00T: ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!! "...lil, bitty airplanes tryna shoot that muthafuccer off the building..." Lawd ha'mercy! <> Why couldn't they put the brotha in a suit? Vogue's about fashion, right? I'm gettin' that King Kong vibe too. Don't care for it. Anywho, it's like they got him on the cover like that just for "the fashion world (who) might not even know who Lebron is.". "Why's this big, Black man on our cover? Who's this big, Black man...? Of course. An athlete or an entertainer...typical. Figures."
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Name:
beegirl
Comment: Lebron isn't in a suit, I think, because this is Vogue's "Shape" issue, which deals with fitness. Few people are as fit as King James.
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Name:
timmdogg
Comment: Some people just want to complain aboutr something? I can't see any harm in this photo shoot at all and for someone (ill-advised if you ask me!) to instigate furor over something so tame as this photo-op trying to make this more than it really is appalling!
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Name:
oshun
Comment: >>Name: PgDn
Comment: the vogue cover is just a larger reflection of the american attitude that the all american beauty ideal is still white, blonde and skinny and that it's ok for black men to be excellent as long as they're using their brawn and not brains. remember, a picture is worth a thousand words.
I agree wholeheartedly. Remember who is behind Vogue. The art directors probably thought this concept would be just "so cute".
uninformed white citizens still believe in widely accepted stereotypes about black people. i white young woman asked me once recently if i could sing, because she thought all black women could blow like whitney houston!
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Name:
cuteleggs
Comment: Train< I saw that on the news last night and could not believe the time them bit ches got. If it were to sisters they would have got 25 years. I mean this was a federal offense. This needs to be dealt with, protested, petitioned and some mo stuff. Unbelievable!
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Name:
katgrrrl
Comment: "...this is Vogue's "Shape" issue, which deals with fitness." Hi Beegirl. That it's the shape issue wasn't at all lost on me. In my OPINION, they still coulda put a brotha in a suit.
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Name:
TGen
Comment: I subscribe to Vogue and I must say I'm reading some very disconcerting things about it on this board, and it gives me pause. I had NO idea Vogue had such a bad rep amongst Blacks. I want to cancel! lol Since I can't cancel, I'll just vow to not renew and I know for dang sure that Lebron cover is not going on my table, it might scare people!
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: >Boot - LMBAO!!! I have to agree with the controversy. But, I'll add another note to it. It looks to me like yet another black athlete chasing white tail, a la Barkley, etc., etc. I think that since it's about fitness, they should've gone with someone in the fitness industry like Jackie from "Work Out" on Bravo or if they were going to do a man, and even a black man, a famous black trainer to the stars or whatever. And they'd have him in a stylish work-out outfit and they'd have her in a work-out outfit of some kind. Or, have her in the evening gown doing curls or something silly like that for a contrast. Here's what I'd do. I'd have the guy in work-out attire "voguing" and looking all suave and the girl in the evening attire sitting on a weight bench doing curls. But that's just me...
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Name:
amethyst
Comment: I understand the comments that the cover appears racist or insinuates a King Kong theme. I don't ever read Vogue so I'm not aware of its history of covers and stories. When I first looked at the cover it didn't bother me. They are both dressed in attire that represents their industries, and appear to be having fun; she's not a damsel in distress. Perhaps if they were unknown models it might raise my eyebrow, but both appear as who they really are: a basketball player and a model. Most b-ball players would appear to dominate a typical 100-pound model, no matter their races. However, having two people of the same race probably would have prevented the fall-out. Heck, I was more ticked off at seeing Puffy and Kim Porter's unmarried-shacked-up-baby-daddy-baby-mama behinds on the cover of the November 2006 Essence. What image were they trying to present?
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Name:
Mas90
Comment: I agree it is like King Kong and the helpless white woman. They did this on purpose just in stink of the Obama vs. anythign white controversy. What blacks need to do is the same thing the white man does to us. Get a magzine show a black strong man in boxing uniform with his foot on the chest of a little white man in glasses and suspenders and penny lofers.
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Name:
my3pluscents
Comment: Give me a break..doesn't he wear shorts and tennis shoes when he plays ball and doesn't she wear tight fitting clothes when she models? So what is the f'ing problem? They just need something to say...how about CONGRATS LeBron for being the first black male on the cover.....
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Name:
Mas90
Comment: They stated he was first black man on the cover last week. Where u been?
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Name:
oshun
Comment: i actually like your concept much better, queeniebunz!!! that would have been a more effective and clever way to portray today's fitness and beauty icons. they need you on their staff!
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: Okay, I have something to say here a little different. Why are we always so pressed about the first black to do things? "The first black man on the cover of Vogue" - James. The first black woman half nekked on the cover of Sports Illustrated - Tyra, the first black woman to get a best actress Oscar for getting it from behind in a movie by nasty-azzed BB Thornton yellin "Make me feel good! Make me feel good!" - Berry...etc., etc. Yeah, the first black president is huge but I look forward to a time when these "firsts" stop being dwelled upon so much, or really at all. How long is it going to be before we stop with the "firsts"? Dave Chappelle did a skit about the first black man to use a public toilet. I believe he was clowning the same concept. When will this it stop? It's like we need validation from "the other culture" and we don't! We really don't. We are a strong, intelligent, talented people. We know that. We don't need peckerwoods and crackers to tell us that by letting one of do something so inane as posing for a freakin' magazine!
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: Excuse my typos..."When will this [it] stop?" - scratch it, and "We don't need peckerwoods and crackers to tell us that by letting one of [us]do something so inane as posing for a freakin' magazine! - add us ... I was irritated and didn't proofread :)
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: >oshun - thanks! I'll be sure and submit my resume...then I can be the first black director/editor for the fitness edition of Vogue! ;)
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Name:
Mas90
Comment: The reason why is because the history books are written gear towards white men, blacks to not get much timeshare on tv as compared to whites, nor do we have our own television station (telemudo) that is geared toward us (BET doesn't count, TV One (partly but mostly re-runs...where's funding for new programs written & directed by blacks.... a white man is not writing or directing those Telemudo soaps operas), and we have to go to black colleges to find out what black people have done first or invented to the world after being taught the white man's education. Otherwise the only part we dominate is some sports which is majority still owned by whites.
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Name:
Mas90
Comment: correction: black do not get much
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Name:
blackdragon
Comment: Queeniebunz: Using racial slurs is not cool. As for this story, it's a non-issue. People like Jemele Hill like to complain about non-issues like this. I'm glad LeBron James rebutted the moron. The cover is not racist. It's unappealing, but not racist. Enough with the racial hustling.
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: >mas - No. The reason is that we still feel the need to get validation from white folk for the things we accomplish, or for "letting us" do things we already know we can do. Example - people know if a family member is good with numbers or can write, etc. They don't need a teacher to tell them that or even to validate it. If your 10 year old son is doing geometry and balancing your checkbook, you don't need Ms. Crabtree to tell you he's good in math. Point being that we already know we can write, study, learn, create, dance, play music, run, jump, tackle, throw, hit, punch, do calculus, perform experiments, etc., etc. Why the need to have whitey tell us what we already know we're capable of. Sure, back in the day textbooks didn't say much about us but that's not true anymore. Now, black writers are writing about everything upon everything. The education is there and we know we can do great things. Why dwell on every little thing a black person does first? "The first black man on Vogue"? Come on. Who gives a flying f*ck? Really.
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Name:
SweetieDarlin
Comment: It does like a subliminal reference to King Kong---you know big black gorilla with frail little white woman (and no I'm not calling him a gorilla.) Whether it is intentional or not we won't really know but I know that often the 'other' folks try to in subtle ways perpetuate stereotypes and fears of blacks then when called on it say it's our imagination...
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: >blackdragon - whateva. I just finished reading "Red River" about the Massacre of 1873 where hundreds of black men in Louisiana were shot multiple times, beat down, lynched, privates cut off, etc. for exercising their right to govern/vote in post Reconstruction Lousiana. Not too high on whitey at the moment.
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Name:
Mas90
Comment: No queenie I'm referring to more important accomplishments not irrelevant things. I never said good for us first negro on a white female clothing magazine.
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Name:
TesticAl
Comment: This is REACHING LIKE A MUTHAFUCKKA!
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: >mas - And I'll say it again. We know we can do great things. We don't need these "firsts" anymore. We just don't....Let's see - First black mail carrier. First black to use an electric can opener. First black to drive a BMW. First black to buy a can of beer from 7-11. First black woman to wear pantyhose. First black woman to drive a bus. First black woman to not know how to clean and cook chitlins. First black man to own a pager in the 80s and not be a drug dealer. First black woman to know how to change a tire on her car and not have to call road-side assistance...
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Name:
mydchomegirl
Comment: >TesticAL - I don't think it's reaching at all. Why couldn't he be dressed in a nice suit or they both be dressed in fitness attire. If so why does he have to have is mouth wide open and clutching her like precious cargo. Anne L don't give a damn about a black man because she is as hard as they come... It reminded me immediately of King Kong. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything! WAKE UP...
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Name:
amethyst
Comment: queenie - We do need to know about continued "firsts" because it is a testament to our youth of what our people are capable of doing. It has nothing to do with getting approval from white people, it's about US and what WE are accomplishing, despite racism and deterrents from white people. It's a shame that in 2008 we still have "firsts" to be, but racism is still alive and well, and we are still behind in so many areas. A lot of our youth, and adults, do not know about Dr. Charles Drew, Dr. Ben Carson or Dr. Velma Scantlebury. Hopefully, teaching and exposing our kids to our positive achievements will impact them. BET and MTV do enough to let them know who is the first to have a 50-carat necklace or Gucci interior in their Range Rover.
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Name:
amethyst
Comment: Hey, TesticAL - How are you? Haven't "heard" from you in a bit.
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Name:
PRDC
Comment: Let's face it...a black man will do anything for a white woman..regardless
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Name:
queeniebunz
Comment: > amethyst - I'm gonna say this and then go on to my dr. appt. I get it about the history. I do. Hell, I taught social studies, including a black history class, for 5 years but come on. Do we really have to trip off all of these "firsts"? First black man on Vogue??? Come on. Really. My favorite first is Crispus Attucks. The first black man to die in the Revolutionary War. He gets acknowledgement/kudos for dying in a war he was fighting for white people who would've enslaved him later had he lived. Y'all might take my AA card for saying so but this distinction just doesn't move me.
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Name:
musbdherbs
Comment: I must agree that some of the posts are hilarious re: this king kong nonsense. It is very possible that many of you are buying into the same stereotypes that we accuse yt folk of having. What does Lebron have to be King Kong? Is it because he's BIG and BLACK? What animal would it be if Lebron was replaced w/someone the color of Jason Kidd? I doubt the "king kong" reference would've been made at all. Apparently when many of you see big black men, you think "big black and scary." Otherwise, you wouldn't have said it. I ain't big...I am a black man...and I don't think big black men look like apes.
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Name:
Mas90
Comment: Jason Kidd would be a tall kitty (cheetah) on his hind legs
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Name:
Mas90
Comment: Queenie... I will say it again...I'm referring to more important accomplishments not irrelevant things. I never said good for us first negro on a white female clothing magazine. Don't get my word twisted again.
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Name:
katgrrrl
Comment: Hey, since it's a fitness issue, why not put Leila Ali on the cover...alone...in some haute couture? She's got the model good looks, IMO. As a matter of fact, she's a lot prettier than some of these models...IMHO.
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Name:
oshun
Comment: >>Name: PRDC
Comment: Let's face it...a black man will do anything for a white woman..regardless
i'm not a black man, but i am sure you are completely and totally WRONG on this one. where's your proof?
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Name:
goodwitch
Comment: I realize that I am late in commenting...but don't we have larger issues to discuss. It's a phot. No more...no less.
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Name:
LAKat
Comment: Never too late to comment Goodwitch. I completely agree with you. Stop worrying about the cover of Vogue and go mentor some black youths or sumthin.
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