(AllHipHop News) The August 1, 2013 cover of Rolling Stone has created a firestorm of controversy. The iconic music magazine was hit with boycotts from retail stores like CVS, 7-11, and Kmart for featuring a photo of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on the cover.
Critics argued that the rock star treatment was glorifying the alleged terrorist. Rolling Stone writer Matt Taibbi defended the magazine’s decision to put Tsarnaev on the cover pointing out that The New York Times used the same photo on its front page in May.
Turns out it was never originally intended for Tsarnaev to be the focal point of the issue in the first place. According to The Hollywood Reporter the editor’s first choice was for Kanye West to grace the cover of the August edition.
Apparently, West was scheduled to make his third appearance on the Rolling Stone cover but pulled out abruptly. THR sources say the early birth of his child with reality star Kim Kardashian and his refusal to talk about the baby on the record led to him not doing the interview.
Kanye’s two previous RS cover photos grabbed a lot of media attention as well. In 2006, Kanye went full Yeezus by donning a crown of thorns on the cover with a headline that read “The Passion of Kanye West,” and the following year Ye went face-to-face with 50 Cent on Rolling Stone as the two rap titans prepared for their infamous album sales battle.
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