Harps Store Censors US Weekly Elton John Cover

01/28/2011 by

A Harps grocery store in Arkansas (don’t…joke…too…easy) has done no favors for the reputation of their state by censoring Elton John and David Furnish’s US Weekly cover.  The one where they debut to the world their precious, adorable fresh-from-the-stork baby boy, Zachary.  They covered that offensive business with a sign designed to cover “photos that are sexually provocative or too revealing.”

elton john us weekly censored cover Harps Store Censors US Weekly Elton John Cover

Representatives from the store said they had received complaints about the cover, which depicts two openly gay men holding their adopted son.  Offensive, I tell you.  What sort of world are we living in that two people, who are happy and in love and thrilled with their newborn child, are allowed to flaunt their repulsive joy all over covers of magazines?  Sure, there may be nothing technically offensive by the cover – they’re fully clothed, no upside down crosses anywhere, and I couldn’t find one kitten with its head bit off – BUT STILL.  Gay people!  SHIELD YOUR CHILDREN’S EYES LEST THEY CATCH “THE GAY”!

Good.  Lord.

Are we really still at this point?  There are really still people who are that stubborn or stupid or narrow minded or … or … I don’t even know what.  Why do people care so much about who other people love?  It’s simply no one’s business, no matter what orientation you are, but your own.

elton john us weekly 525x698 Harps Store Censors US Weekly Elton John Cover

And even if you do have a problem, FOR SOME REASON, with homosexuality, THEY’RE JUST SITTING THERE HOLDING THE KID.  They aren’t kissing or touching each other … at all, really.  David’s palm might be grazing Elton’s jacket a little bit.  I can see how that could be offensive to one’s delicate sensibilities.

After many complaints, the store decided to remove the sign.  Scandalous.

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About Jen O.

Jen O. is a proud Canadian. She eats poutine for breakfast and sweats maple syrup, but does NOT say 'aboot'. You can find her being overly nice at My Tornado Alley. She watches way too much tv, generally of the "reality" flavour, because she has low standards and a long attention span.


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Filed Under: Celebrities, Celebrity Babies, Celebrity Kids, Celebrity Musicians, Print, Things That Suck, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Tagged With: Celebrity Babies, celebrity covers, David Furnish, Elton John, gay rights, glbt, glbt rights, GLBTQ, Harps, Magazines, sir elton john, stupid people, US Weekly
  • http://bio-girl.blogspot.com Sarah

    This makes me so mad. It’s just…I don’t even know. They cover a happy couple and their adorable baby like they are something to be ashamed of. The only thing to be ashamed of is their own actions. It breaks my heart that this is where some people still are. That a company can think this is an acceptable action.

    Also, baby Zachary… I want to eat him up. Look at those toes!

  • G.G.R

    This shit fucking offends me. There’s not a lot of things people can do to offend me but god damnit homophobia pisses me off. A big FUCK YOU to the people who complained about two loving parents showing off their new baby. FUCK YOU you sad, soulless, pathetic pieces of narrow-minded crap. I want to put a paper bag over your head with the words “Offensive to intelligent and loving people.” so we don’t have to see you in public. I wonder what it’s like to live life by walking around and being offended by shit that doesn’t concern you. They must have very little in their life or are bitter. “The bible says it’s wroooong” – fuck that noise. The bible also says that husbands can rape their wives if they like, you guys down with that? Stop blaming your fears on the bible and hiding behind religion. If you say you’ve been “taught” to be homophobic then use your own brain (which is in there some where I swear!) and think for yourself.

    GAYS ARE AWESOME. HURRAY GAYS! HURRAY GAY PARENTS! HURRAY CHILDREN WITH GAY PARENTS! HURRAY LOVE! HURRAH FOR ALL GAYS, FAGGOTS, LESBIANS, DYKES, HOMOSEXUALS, AND RAINBOW PEOPLE.

    This shit seriously pisses me off. GAH!

    Gah!!!!

    • NinaN

      I second that!

      I really don’t understand why these ignorant, narrow-minded people think that other people’s lives are any of their business. If it morally offends you to see two loving men holding their baby, then LOOK AWAY!!!!!!

    • http://raisingzoeyjane.com Zoeyjane

      If I was not seated very comfortably in my chair, I’d give you a standing O for that.

  • CH

    More upsetting? The fact that something like this (http://www.bittenandbound.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/whitney-port-graces-cosmopolitan-cover-may-2009.jpg) was probably left uncovered and in full view (if not, as studies say, on eye level to) of those virgin eyes.

  • sarah

    Oy. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I live right smack in the middle of Arkansas and not only saw this magazine on the stands, but bought it….something I rarely do! (hey what happened to gossip rag Wednesday?) Please don’t judge us by this, really we are a lovely, and kind state.

    And hey, G.G.R, exactly where in the bible does it say it is okay for a husband to RAPE his wife? MamaPop is not the place for a biblical debate, but come on.

    • Sekhmetnakt

      The Ten Commandments state that wives are the property of their husbands. I’m not sure if the Bible specificly says husbands can “rape” their wives, but it makes it pretty clear that you can do ANYTHING you want to your property, that includes your wife, and that said property has no human rights. I don’t read violent hate-based fiction like the Bible. I was raised to believe things like nudity, consensual sexuality, etc, are natural and healthy. It was things like violence and irrational bigot hatred (so therfore things like the Bible) my parents shielded me from. And I’ve never developed a taste for the distasteful since becoming an adult ether. But my father is a professor of ancient and modern religions and a degreed historian. I can ask him for specific Bible verses to back all this up if you like? Just say the word and I’ll be more than happy to help. From what he’s taught me about the Bible I have no doubt I can find damning evidence (no pun intended).

      And G.G.R., you said everything I was thinking when I 1st read this~100% agreed! All and all none of this surprises me. Companys like Chick-Fil-A, Wal-Mart, and AT&T have been guilty of the same or similar homophobic discrimination at the bequest of their fundy patrons and fundy board members in the recent past. I guess Harps goes on my boycott list with them now.

  • *Stevie*

    I was adopted by a lesbian couple in the early ’80′s and I grew up a normal, well-adjusted woman with a loving and supportive husband, two beautiful children, a college education and a bitchin’ career. And you know what? My adopted parents are still together and still totally in love. 31 years later. Eat that, homophobic fucks. I love my mothers, both of them.

  • http://www.geniuspending.com Jay

    Explaining to my children that same sex couples can love each other in the same way Mommies and Daddies do was not a remotely difficult conversation whatsoever. It went a lot like this:

    Me: Grown-ups can love any other grown-up they want to. Nobody can tell you who to love or why. Ever.

    Kids: That makes absolute sense.

    BOSS

    • http://raisingzoeyjane.com Zoeyjane

      We live in a ‘gay’ neighbourhood in Vancouver. It’s rainbow-city and the pride parade runs down our street. Explaining to my daughter that she could love whoever she wanted to went like this:

      Me: You can love whoever you want to.
      Her: So I can marry a girl?
      Me: Yes, if you want to, or if you don’t want to, that’s fine, too. Or if you want to be with a boy and marry him or not, it doesn’t matter. It just matters that you love.
      Her: I want to marry you when I grow up.
      Me: Besides the fact that we don’t live in Arkansas, I’m not really the marrying type, kiddo.

  • http://www.agirlandaboy.com/journal agirlandaboy

    Politics aside (FTR, I love me some gays), that picture looks Photoshopped, and poorly so. The text is crooked on the shield, and it looks like you can see where the part of the “e” in “shoppers” that is supposedly obscured by the rack is actually just faded out.

    This is not any kind of defense of homophobia or, god help me, Arkansas, but I don’t know…I’d rather get angry over something that doesn’t scream FAKE. Off to check Snopes now! :)

    • http://www.agirlandaboy.com/journal agirlandaboy

      Hm. Apparently the story is real (there’s a statement on the real-looking Harps website), but I still think the photo was messed with.

      • http://abigailroad.ca abigailroad

        I thought it looked photo-shopped too.

    • http://mytornadoalley.com Jen O.

      Yeah, it looked fishy to me at first, too, but I did my homework. Saw the statement on Harps site with my own eyes.

    • http://raisingzoeyjane.com Zoeyjane

      Someone who was shopping there the other night actually tweeted it about it and then it got retweeted and so on. Can you photoshop on iPhones? It’s the same rack, just a slightly different angle: http://plixi.com/p/72509272

  • tonya

    It seems to me that a shield would make kids MORE likely to want to see what was under it. So in that case, way to generate MORE attention to the magazine Harps.

    Seriously, it’s 2011…homophobia has no place any longer.

  • Lisa

    Just so everyone knows — the corporate office of Harps actually immediately responded to this decision, made by one store manager, and had them remove the cover right away. They apologised and stated that what the manager did was against their corporate ideology, and that it was a mistake in judgement on the part of the store manager, who had received several complaints from his customers. I thought that, despite this horrible situation, at least the company itself was quick to respond in a positive way!

  • http://www.meangirlgarage.com Jules

    What year is this? We need to show babies. ALL babies.

  • http://www.irmafloresta.blogspot.com Irma

    I know this is off topic, but look at their eyes, pure joy is just oozing out of both of them. That is one lucky little boy.

  • http://thedeletebin.com Rob Jones

    Does this mean that if you, or I frankly, went to the store to complain that we found the shielding of a cover of a magazine to be offensive and incredibly patronizing to us and our children, that they’d remove it? And does that mean that the other side would complain again to have it re-instated? Where does it end? This is madness. Censorship is stupid.

    Our culture is shifting. It just is. I looked at that cover and thought “Hey! It looks like Elton John is going to be 140 years old when that kid graduates high school”. And that was the end of it.

    Not everyone has this perception I suppose. But, to me, it comes down to a lack of balls on the part of the corporation to take a stand and go with their initial decision to merchandize the item as it was originally merchandized. Setting aside the homophobia issue for a second and talking about this from the point of view of pure commerce, I think there comes a point when you have to decide who you’re going to do business with, and stick with it. And since our culture is shifting to the point where a gay couple can in fact appear on the cover of a mainstream magazine holding their adopted baby, then maybe it’s best to take ones cues from that rather than from someone who clearly hasn’t met or spoken with any gay people about the issue (our culture has yet to shift to where it’s not an issue at all, but baby steps I guess…).

    Thanks for the post. :-)

  • mommypsych

    Zachary is not adopted- he is the biological son of either Elton or David. According to the article in US Weekly, they both “contributed”, used an anonymous egg donor & a surrogate to carry the baby. They are a beautiful family!

  • http://fawnlikeadeer.blogspot.com Fawn Amber

    I would just like to say FOR THE GOD DAMNED RECORD that not everyone in Arkansas is a homophobic jerk. And the “too easy” joke at the beginning of this piece rubs me the wrong way as well. This could have happened anywhere. Please don’t ping my state just because we still harbor a few morons. You can have them if you’d like.

    *A liberal Arkansan…

    • http://raisingzoeyjane.com Zoeyjane

      I respectfully rescind my Arkansas joke from within my igloo. Because I’m all about being polite, eh?

  • Melissa

    I am from Mountain Home, Arkansas where this all happened. I have to say that I’ve written plenty of papers stating why gay marriages should be legalized and such. Obviously since this was reported by someone who does live in Mountain Home and there were many complaints, we are not all intolerant. This decision was made by one person. Just saying.