Congrats Rolling Stone - You're Officially a Douche Rag!

[JRNYMAN]

The fallout from RS's decision to cover their next issue with the face of the surviving Boston Marathon bomber seems to be snowballing by the hour. It started with CVS refusing to carry the upcoming issue and retailers are joining them literally by the hour.

Retailers vow not to sell Rolling Stone issue as critics blast decision to put accused Boston bomber on cover
Published July 18, 2013 - FoxNews.com

At least five retailers with deep ties to New England will not sell the Rolling Stone magazine featuring an unsmiling, scruffy Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover.

The picture, which accompanies a story titled "Jahar's World," shows the 19-year-old accused murderer with his long, curly hair tousled, reminiscent of the magazine's iconic shots of rock 'n' roll royalty like The Doors' Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan.

The issue — which hits newsstands Friday — depicts Tsarnaev above a boldface headline, "The Bomber." The story, which features interviews from childhood friends, teachers and law enforcement agents, promises to reveal how a “popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam, and became a monster."

Several notable retailers, including CVS and Walgreens, have decided not to carry the issue in their stores.

“CVS/pharmacy has decided not to sell the current issue of Rolling Stone featuring a cover photo of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect,” the Rhode Island-based pharmacy chain said in a statement. “As a company with deep roots in New England and a strong presence in Boston, we believe this is the right decision out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones.”

“As a company with deep roots in New England and a strong presence in Boston, we believe this is the right decision out of respect for the victims of the attack and their loved ones.”

- CVS/pharmacy

Other retailers who have said they will not carry the issue include Walgreens, Rite Aid, Stop & Shop, the grocery chain the Roche Bros and Tedeschi Food Shops, a Massachusetts-based convenience store chain.

Other critics of the cover, including Boston Mayor Tom Menino and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, struck fast, accusing the magazine of offering Tsarnaev “celebrity treatment” and calling the cover “ill-conceived, at best" in a letter written by Menino to Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner.

"The survivors of the Boston attacks deserve Rolling Stone cover stories, though I no longer feel that Rolling Stone deserves them,” the letter concluded.

Rolling Stone, for its part, issued a statement Wednesday saying the story was part of its “long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful” coverage of the most important current political and cultural issues.

"The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens," the statement said.

Rolling Stone did not address whether the photo was edited or filtered in any way in a brief statement offering condolences to bombing survivors and the loved ones of the dead.

In a blog posting late Tuesday, Rolling Stone detailed “five revelations” in the story by contributing editor Janet Reitman, including Tsarnaev's increasing devotion to Islam while still in high school, as well as his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev's possible mental illness, which the boys' mother decided would be better treated by Islam than by a psychiatrist.

"Around 2008, Jahar’s older brother Tamerlan confided to his mother that he felt like ‘two people’ were inside him,” the blog posting reads. “She confided this to a close friend who felt he might need a psychiatrist, but Zubeidat believed that religion would be the cure for her son’s inner demons and growing mental instability, and pushed him deeper into Islam.”

But the cover could send a dangerous message to Tsarnaev's warped supporters, according to one critic.

"If they want to become famous, kill somebody," Northeastern University criminologist Jack Levin told MyFoxBoston.com.

Putting convicted and alleged criminals on the covers of major magazines is justified if they are major news figures, according to Samir Husni, a journalism professor who heads the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi. It's digitally manipulating a photo that never is, Husin said.

"They'll probably regret it later," he said of Rolling Stone's handling of its cover. "Even if it wasn't doctored it's going to bring those negative reactions."

Supporters of Tsarnaev, who believe in the face of overwhelming evidence that he’s innocent of the charges against him, appeared last week during his federal court appearance in Boston. Some wore T-shirts with phrases like “Free the Lion,” while others held “Free Jahar” signs outside Boston's John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse on Wednesday.

“Give Dzhokhar back his life,” one protester reportedly said.

“If you really cared about the victims you would be more interested in the truth,” said another Tsarnaev supporter.

The Rolling Stone cover quickly drew a negative reaction on social media, as "Boycott Rolling Stone" quickly became a trending Twitter topic in Boston.

"Very rarely does something make me so mad I have a negative tweet, but #BoycottRollingStone," one user posted early Wednesday. "Absolutely unacceptable."

Many other Twitter users indicated they would never purchase another Rolling Stone magazine.

"Way to glorify a madman," another posting read.

The issue also drew condemnation from at least one of Tsarnaev's alleged victims.

MBTA Transit Police Officer Richard "Dic" Donohue, who was allegedly shot and injured by the Tsarnaev brothers as they fled police, said in a statement he and his family felt the issue was "thoughtless at best."

"I cannot and do not condone the cover of the magazine," Donohue said.

Federal authorities allege that the Tsarnaev brothers planted two bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15. The explosions killed three people and injured more than 260 others.

Four days later, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who survived a shootout with police during which Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed, was captured following a day-long manhunt in the Boston suburb of Watertown.

Tsarnaev pleaded not guilty last week to 30 counts of a federal indictment. If the government decides to seek capital punishment, Tsarnaev could face the death penalty if convicted on one of 17 counts.

Rolling Stone’s statement was little consolation for James "Bim" Costello, 30, of Malden, Mass., who needed pig skin grafts on most of his right arm and right leg after the bombing. His body was pebbled with shrapnel, including nails he pulled out of his stomach himself. Three of his close friends lost legs that day and others suffered serious burns and shrapnel injuries.

"I think whoever wrote the article should have their legs blown off by someone," struggle through treatment "and then see who they would choose to put on the cover,” Costello told The Associated Press.

The accompanying story, he said, "just seems like a cry for attention" from Rolling Stone.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/18/re ... on-to-put/

[G.I.Jim]

Great decision on behalf of the retailers. The hell with the Rolling Stone! I couldn't imagine surviving something like that only to see a magazine company trying to capitalize on it and draw more attention to the attackers for their own profit. How about putting the victims on the cover? Why not show what THEY'VE been through since the ordeal, and show how they've suffered at the hands of these cowardly bastards? Disgusting!

[JRNYMAN]

Great decision on behalf of the retailers. The hell with the Rolling Stone! I couldn't imagine surviving something like that only to see a magazine company trying to capitalize on it and draw more attention to the attackers for their own profit. How about putting the victims on the cover? Why not show what THEY'VE been through since the ordeal, and show how they've suffered at the hands of these cowardly bastards? Disgusting!

Ditto to every word Jim! Something along the lines of this would have been sooooooooooo much better and far more well received... Sorry for the enormous size, I should have reduced it but what the heck... it gets the point across.

[The Sushi Hunter]

What to expect from a magazine put together by a bunch of old worthless junkies and their young inspiring replacements.

[Liam]

One more reason to hate RS. And the supporters can suck a fart out of my ass.

[Archetype]

Here's what David Draiman posted on facebook about the recent RS scandal. I'm really loving a lot of the stuff he has had to say recently.

http://blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=192586

"I used to dream of making the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, as it used to be the ultimate statement of legitimacy for an aspiring musician and it meant that you had really made it. Over the past 5 years, Rolling Stone has become less and less about music, and has become more and more about bullshit pop-culture nonsense. Even though many of us may not care for it, we were able to live with it... until this.

"You... dare... to... put... the... image... of... the... Boston... bomber... on... the... fucking... cover... of... your... magazine!!!!????

"Are you out of your ultra-liberal, sympathetic-to-a-fault fucking minds???

"You have not only succeeded in blatantly insulting and dishonoring the victims and families whose lives were forever affected by this rabid animal, but you have now glorified his cowardly and unforgivable act. Why? Because it will sell magazines? Because it will create controversy? Because you actually do sympathize with this abhorrent, cowardly, piece of shit? You have made it attractive and validated the act to a whole new generation of wannabe terrorists seeking martyrdom and infamy. You, and your kind, are the reason why people think that they can go out 'in a blaze of glory' while murdering innocents.

"Honestly, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart... go... fuck... yourselves.

"The next terrorist/murdering incident, be it another bomber, or a madman with an assault rifle, unleashing fire upon a school full of children, is on you.

"May your consciences (if you even have them) weigh immeasurable heavy on you for the rest of your lives.

"I condemn this act, this notion, and this worthless piece-of-shit fucking rag of a magazine.

"May the powers that be have mercy upon your souls, because the next time something like this happens, I assure you, the world won't.

"Go to hell."

[slucero]

maybe this will cause this piece of shit rag to finally die...

[Liam]

maybe this will cause this piece of shit rag to finally die...

One can only hope.

[Andrew]

Amazed so many people have waited until July 2013 to call RS a shitrag. They've been a shitrag for a decade plus.

[steveo777]

Amazed so many people have waited until July 2013 to call RS a shitrag. They've been a shitrag for a decade plus.

I actually found an older edition and in the spirit of now, I wiped my backside with a page torn out. My anus cried foul. (it never does that)

[Liam]

Amazed so many people have waited until July 2013 to call RS a shitrag. They've been a shitrag for a decade plus.

I always have. This just made it a WHOLE lot worse.

[annie89509]

Well, RS showed their true colors ... and, must we always be subjected to psycho-analyzation of every crazy person who maimed and killed? Broken home... abused childhood... voices in the head ... society shunned -- all crazy people have a backstory.
Why give this murderer the time of day... full rock-star treatment w/ the glamorized cover (as many have pointed out)? To sell more magazines? Hope it backfires in their faces.

I just never believed in glorifying criminals ... E. Snowden, another example ... as has been the case in some circles.

[JRNYMAN]

Amazed so many people have waited until July 2013 to call RS a shitrag. They've been a shitrag for a decade plus.

I always have. This just made it a WHOLE lot worse.

+1

[artist4perry]

Gonna see my smiling face on the cover of the Jihad Stone! I am with Andrew they have been an embarrassment to themselves for years and this is the lowest they have sunk.

And as for those stupid teen girls who think he is HOT...get a life, therapy, and while your at it a job so you can stop racking up your liberal mommies credit cards to the max.

Some people are just too stupid to breed.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Gonna see my smiling face on the cover of the Jihad Stone! I am with Andrew they have been an embarrassment to themselves for years and this is the lowest they have sunk.

And as for those stupid teen girls who think he is HOT...get a life, therapy, and while your at it a job so you can stop racking up your liberal mommies credit cards to the max.

Some people are just too stupid to breed.

Funny you mention some teen girls thinking his hot, because you are exactly right. I have a friend who's got three daughters, two of them just became adults over the past two years and one is still a minor. All three of them think he's hot and on top of that, were pissed that they took him down like they did and are pissed at the government for holding him. The next day after taking this fucker into custody, the girls were saying "so now what is the government going to do.....waterboard him like they do everyone else they don't like." This is what they said folks and this is who is going to be the future of America. And this so called magazine did exactly what the group they are appealing to wants, which are the college aged voters.

[Boomchild]

Amazed so many people have waited until July 2013 to call RS a shitrag. They've been a shitrag for a decade plus.

You got that right!

[bluejeangirl76]

the girls were saying "so now what is the government going to do.....waterboard him like they do everyone else they don't like."

Yes, because we don't like terrorists and murderers.

This crap showed up in my mailbox right after we got the second renewal notice, too. Not so sure that notice will be mailed in now. I don't like this. I'm fine with the story being inside, but NOT with that cover.

RS also makes each cover their facebook cover photo after the issue hits, and this was no execption, and they did that AFTER the backlash started. Even with all the pushback and anger over it, they turned right around and put that asshole in their facebook cover, and the "Rolling Stone changed their cover photo" message showed up in over a million feeds along WITH the picture of the cover. Major slap on their part. It's still there too.

[steveo777]

Judge Jeanine Pirro rips RS a new one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM6aSBrYgs8

She's so firey. I love that in a woman!