On the cover of “Rolling Stone” magazine is an image of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev looking more like a rock star than an alleged terrorist.
In the lower right-hand corner the cover reads: “The Bomber” followed by “How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a monster”. The article includes interviews with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s high school and college friends, some teachers and neighbors who knew him.
It’s not the story that has many outraged; it’s the way he is portrayed on the cover.
“They’re trying to make him look like a rock star and he’s a horrible person that did a horrible thing,” said Rachel Carfarella, who hates the magazine cover.
The image of a shaggy-haired Dzhokhar Tsarnaev evoked nothing but disgust from the people of the city he is accused of hurting so badly. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother, Tamerlan, are accused of the bombings at the Boston Marathon, which killed three people and injured more than 260. They are also accused of killing MIT Police Officer Sean Collier days after the bombings.
“We don’t need to give press to him anymore. He’s had enough,” said one woman.
“Being on ‘Rolling Stone is’, the cover, is more like a privilege and this guy, after what he did, it’s sad. He doesn’t deserve this recognition,” said one man.
“I would never put this on the cover. I think it’s really unfortunate and it’s a story that can be inside the magazine,” said Janelle Driscoll, who thinks the cover is a bad idea.
Rolling Stone says it tries to explain how a charming kid became a “monster”. A preview of the article says FBI negotiations got Tsarnaev to surrender by relaying a plea from his high school wrestling coach to give up. His older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout with police days after the bombing, allegedly told his mother “He felt like two people were inside him” and she thought “religion would be the cure”. The magazine also says when friends asked Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to meet his brother he would say “No, you don’t want to meet him”.
City and state leaders aren’t upset by the article, just the cover.
“The cover is out of taste,” said Gov. Deval Patrick.
“Why would we want to heroize this guy? He’s a terrorist. We don’t want him in our neighborhoods. We don’t want him on magazines. We don’t want him anywhere,” said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.
The mayor believes first responders and the victims belonged on the cover of the magazine. Menino said he plans on having his office contact the magazine before it is printed.
This issue of “Rolling Stone” is set to hit store shelves on Aug. 3.
Tedeschi Food Shops, Inc. posted the following message on their Facebook page in reference to the cover: “Tedeschi Food Shops supports the need to share the news with everyone, but cannot support actions that serve to glorify the evil actions of anyone. With that being said, we will not be carrying this issue of Rolling Stone. Music and terrorism don’t mix!”
CVS has also decided to not sell the issue.
What do you think of the cover photo?