Despite positive messages that they originally try to deliver on the magazine's cover, these stars' appearances on the front page of a publication eventually backfire and spark debate.
- Nov 22, 2020
AceShowbiz - Before he made headlines with his presidential run and his Twitter rants, Kanye West was already a controversial celebrity with one of his antics including his cover on Rolling Stone's 2006 issue. The rapper was depicted as Jesus with blood dripping on his face as a crown on thorns was sitting on his head. The magazine's headline read, "The Passion of Kanye West," which was a play on the tile of the film documenting Jesus' crucifixion "The Passion of the Christ".
Needless to say, the cover that likened the Yeezy designer to a spiritual figure drew ire from the Christian community, who questioned the star's divinity to compare himself to such divine figure. Comedian Mo Rocca called it "bad PR," but in its defense, the magazine said that the cover featuring the "Jesus Walks" emcee was meant to be artistic and wasn't meant to offend any group. Kanye, meanwhile, preemptively shut down the criticism of his comparison to Jesus as saying in an interview for the cover story, "You want me to be great, but you don't ever want me to say I'm great?"
