Every musician and celebrity used to dream of being “on the cover of the Rolling Stone,” but that is apparently changing after the biweekly magazine for aged hippies interested in music ran a feature story and cover photo spotlighting alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
The reaction has been explosive, with famous people ranging from wrestlers to actors and musicians slamming the publication's sympathetic coverage of the accused terrorist and publisher Jann Wenner with remarks ranging from “pathetic” to “irresponsible.”
One of the most offended celebrities is actor James Woods, who tweeted:
This couldn't be more sickening. I went to school in Boston. Can't imagine the hatred people there are feeling for Jann Wenner.
“These money-hungry scum will even cash in on something like the Boston atrocity for their 30 pieces of silver,” Woods continued. “Boggles the mind.”
After conducting an unscientific poll of its viewers, CBS's Today Show noted that 90 percent of their audience believes the Rolling Stone cover “goes too far.”
Also responding to the “star treatment” Tsarnaev received were actors who have played heroes on the big screen and television.
Ralph Macchio, who was The Karate Kid in three movies, retweeted a post from @mrdougellin:
Making a great album isn't enough to get you on the cover of rolling stone anymore. Blowing up kids is.
Dean Cain, who was Superman during the Lois and Clark television series, tweeted that the cover “makes me sick” and stated: “I never read Rolling Stone anyway ... but now?”
Known for playing the lead roles in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Kevin Sorbo posted a sarcastic message:
Bravo to Rolling Stone magazine for putting the Boston Bomber on your cover. You have reached a new low of no class. Ridiculous!
Along with tweeting that the staff of the Boston Herald “does not approve of the Tsarnaev Rolling Stone cover,” the newspaper posted a front page with a huge “X” over the image from the magazine.
Carson Daly, host of the late-night Last Call show on NBC, tweeted: “What's to say? It's irresponsible. and totally inappropriate.”
“Just saw the latest Rolling Stone cover,” posted Tom Bergeron, comical host of the popular ABC program Dancing With the Stars. “Unbelievable. Was this instead of their Al-Qaeda swimsuit edition?”
Nikki Sixx, co-founder of the Motley Crue rock band, expressed his anger by stating the cover “disrespected families of the Boston bombing victims 100%.”
Most celebrities agreed with Jake Tapper, co-host of CNN's weekday morning program New Day, who posted:
The survivors of the Boston attacks deserve Rolling Stone cover stories, though I no longer feel that Rolling Stone deserves them.
As Newsbusters previously reported, the controversy over the Rolling Stone choice for its most recent cover began almost immediately after the image was released to the press and the public.
The edition was soon boycotted by such nationwide store chains as CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens even though Washington Post media columnist Erik Wemple blamed the reaction on "our country's tedious outrage machine."
It's too soon to know if Wenner and his magazine have benefited financially from the controversy, but it can't be denied that the turmoil has given the periodical more publicity than it could ever have afforded on its own.
But as these celebrities have demonstrated, there's good publicity and bad publicity, and we can only wonder how many people will still be around to see what the cover of the next issue will be.
