Yesterday we heard that a parents’ advocacy group had condemned GQ for their overly sexualized photoshoot of Glee stars Lea Michele, Dianna Agron and Corey Monteith. The photoshoot, by known predator Terry Richardson, took place in a high school with the actors posed suggestively and dressed in skimpy clothing to look like their teenage characters. It wasn’t appropriate, and the The Parents Television Council called out GQ and Glee for putting it out there, writing that “it borders on pedophilia.” Instead of acknowledging the mistake or at least accepting that there are parents who would be concerned by this, the editor GQ issued a defiant response indicating that it’s everyone else’s problem if they’re offended:
“The Parents Television Council must not be watching much TV these days and should learn to divide reality from fantasy,” Jim Nelson, editor-in-chief of GQ, said. “As often happens in Hollywood, these ‘kids’ are in their twenties. Cory Montieth’s almost 30! I think they’re old enough to do what they want.”
[From The Insider via The Huffington Post]
I guess that’s what you can expect from the editor of a men’s magazine, but it’s still disappointing. Meanwhile 24 year-old Dianna Agron, who plays Quinn Fabray on Glee, has written a response on her blog to the controversy. Agron also appeared in the shoot, but she wore a little more clothing than her co-star Lea Michele and didn’t look as into the whole thing. She basically wrote that she was just doing her job and that while she wouldn’t have picked that particular setting or theme it’s not like she was going to walk out. She also apologized to everyone who took issue with the photos and said she understood their concern, which is more than the editor of GQ saw fit to do:
In the land of Madonna, Britney, Miley, Gossip Girl, other public figures and shows that have pushed the envelope and challenged the levels of comfort in their viewers and fans…we are not the first. Now, in perpetuating the type of images that evoke these kind of emotions, I am sorry. If you are hurt or these photos make you uncomfortable, it was never our intention. And if your eight-year-old has a copy of our GQ cover in hand, again I am sorry. But I would have to ask, how on earth did it get there?
I was a very sheltered child, and was not aware of anything provocative or risque in the media while I was navigating through my formative years. When I was finally allowed to watch a movie like Grease, I did not even understand what on earth Rizzo was talking about!? I understand that in today’s world of advanced technology, the internet, our kids can be subject to very adult material at the click of a button. But there are parental locks, and ways to get around this. I am twenty-four years old. I have been a pretty tame and easy-going girl my whole life. Nobody is perfect, and these photos do not represent who I am. I am also not the girl who rolls out of bed with flawless makeup and couture clothing. I am most comfortable with my hair thrown on top of my head, in sweats, laughing with my friends. Glee is a show that represents the underdogs, which is a feeling I have embraced much of my own life, and to those viewers, the photos in GQ don’t give them that same feeling. I understand completely.
For GQ, they asked us to play very heightened versions of our school characters. A ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ version. At the time, it wasn’t my favorite idea, but I did not walk away. I must say, I am trying to live my life with a sharpie marker approach. You can’t erase the strokes you’ve made, but each step is much bolder and more deliberate. I’m moving forward from this one, and after today, putting it to rest. I am only myself, I can only be me. These aren’t photos I am going to frame and put on my desk, but hey, nor are any of the photos I take for magazines. Those are all characters we’ve played for this crazy job, one that I love and am so fortunate to have, each and every day. If you asked me for my dream photo shoot, I’d be in a treehouse, in a wild costume, war-paint and I’d be playing with my pet dragon. Until then…..
[From Dianna Agron’s blog, thanks to Jessica for the tip]
She sounds so mature and well spoken. I don’t know much about Agron and have only read a brief profile of her in Vanity Fair. I do wonder if someone else wrote this statement for her. Either way it’s very well put. It also helps explain why her fashion is so hit or miss. Lea Michele may rule the red carpet, but it’s Agron who is winning us over with her attitude.
Photos from GQ
It’s not overly sexy. It’s Lea Michele trying too hard to be sexy. This girl looks out of place and it’s obvious she thinks too much of herself. Her facial expressions are more laughable then sexy. She’s a great singer but it ends there.
Is it really THAT bad?! They ARE grown adults…
I kind of side with the mag.
There is soooo much worse stuff out there – esp on TV!
I guess this is all free press for GQ though… Way to go Parents Television Council
From what I’ve seen this seems to be running about 20% for, and 80% against. Hopefully the latter lands smack in Lea Micheles lap.
OMG Thats terrible a photoshoot. I don’t watch Glee but the episodes I saw, they looked like just regular kids, with regular dreams but more importantly they are in a very high school setting as far as I could see, this is way sexualized and probably doesn’t reflect the wholesomeness of the show. Lea Michale looks like a 2 dollar stripper. They really did a number on these kids. These shots look tacky, nothing cool, nothing provocative, just trashy.
The guy who runs GQ sounds like a total dick.
I just read the story on the link to the photographer. Why is this not mainstream news? Sick. Very Sick.
GQ are being disingenuous. I don’t think anyone said that the photo was inappropriate because children were posing in it.
As I interpret it, people felt it was inappropriate because the actors play teenagers in the program, and that program is well and truly targeted at under-agers. And besides that, it is sleazy to make the girls pose half-naked while the man is fully clothed. Gross.
the issue is the skeezeball photographer — terry richardson … read the jezebel stuff on him. a thoroughly creepy, manipulative skeezeball.
this spread actually looks like an american apparel ad campaign.
Wow, how much of a try hard is Lea, that photo of her on the bench makes me laugh, she looks constipated rather than sexy.
i think its fine…Glee is not even a childrens show…isnt the targeted age group 18-29?
I quite like Dianna. I’d believe she wrote that – she had time to think over what she was going to say and edit, rather than such in an interview. She’s always seemed eloquent when I’ve seen her non-scripted.
Oh GQ is loving this. The PR flack for Glee may be loving this too because of the publicity it brings the show.
The pictures are fug. I consider that a Terry Richardson fail but also a Lea/Cory/Dianne fail. Lea/Cory/Dianne should have had better judgment too.
Either they live and learn or they don’t. A little humbling is probably due but that applies to the photographer and GQ as much as the actors.
Wasn’t one of the characters on glee pregnant? I don’t watch the show, but I’m pretty sure I remember hearing something about that.
As far as I know, the only way to get knocked up is by having sex, so why is a sexy photo shoot any worse than implied sex happening off screen?
People need to relax and realise that just because an actor plays a teenager doesn’t mean they are. If parent’s are worried about their kids being influenced by what they are reading in men’s magazines (which, as far as I know are targeted towards adults) maybe they should play a more active role in monitoring what their kids are reading.
I don’t see how any of the actors can look at those pictures and not cringe. Not because the photos are overly sexual but because they’re so damned bad. As many have stated over and over, it does not come across as sexy.
i just read the link to the article on the photographer and just ew ew ew!!! how does any magazine justify hiring that perve?
Isn’t Glee’s popularity on the skids nowadays?
URGH, I CANT STAND LEA.
And Agron, well… she seems to have both feets on the ground 🙂
Why should the magazine apologize to a self proclaimed moral guardian? Besides, Glee isn’t a Disney show. In PTC’s website, it’s considered inappopriate for childen under 16.
Also, Kaiser, I dislike your comment about Dianna Agron. Why would your wonder if someone else wrote that statement for her? You say you don’t really know much about her but your first instict is to think that just because she’s a blond actress she can’t produce a well put text? I know you try to be bitcy in your blogs but you’re alienating me as a reader by these misogynistic comments.
GQ seriously responds with “Cory Montieth’s almost 30!”? Um, way to miss the point, GQ. He’s the only one fully clothed — but then again, he is the man, so as long as the photos don’t objectify him and make him look like the “stud” who gets both girls, I guess everything is A-OK in the world.
I really, really wish the Parents Advisory Board or whatever they are called hadn’t used the stupid phrase “bordering on pedophilia” because it gives the sexist pigs at GQ an “out” by arguing that point instead of making them defend the obvious fact that they think it is the height of “art” to reduce 2 talented girls to nothing more than f*ck dolls.
And, in all seriousness, why isn’t Terry Richardson in jail already? Just hiring that perv shows the class GQ has.
I am disappointed in Lea & Dianna for going along with this photo shoot, as I wrote yesterday in one of the posts on these disgusting photos, but the fact is I don’t blame them. They are young, they have stars in their eyes, and, like many young girls before them, are easily manipulated into doing things that don’t “represent” them, as Dianna admits, for fear of “making waves” by walking out or even daring to raise an objection to being made to look like prostitutes for fear of “causing trouble.” Heck, given that women are constantly portrayed as whores in the media anyway, they probably thought it was ok to participate in GQ’s & Terry Richardson’s “sex fantasy.”
Every time I see a pic of that Lea Michele, I just want to smack her.
Please, please, please someone photograph her in a treehouse, in a wild costume with war paint, playing with her pet dragon. I can imagine that shoot so well in my head and THAT would be art!!
After GQ’s “defense” and Agron’s statement saying they wanted them to play “heightened” versions of themselves I think by “heightened” she means the the opposite as gutter versions is more accurate.
And there’s nothing wrong with a gutter version but it did nothing for Glee and just reinforced GQ’s downward spiral. Having said that I had a WTF? moment at Glee’s scene with Brittany/Santana making out. It felt gratuitous so maybe the show’s trying to be ‘not that innocent’ too?
@ melina – I don’t think that Kaiser was implying that Dianna could not have written the statement by herself because she’s blond. She stated that she doesn’t know much about her to begin with. Because we hear very little from Dianna, nobody really has any idea of how articulate or grounded she is. Many statements are released “by” celebrities via their publicists, so it’s easy to assume that she has people writing statements on her behalf.
Relax. 🙂
Its the reflection of Lea’s crotch on the locker room bench that makes me so ill. :shudder:
What I found offensive was that cory gets to be all clothed and sophisticated while they made the girls look skanky. If they had all been equally skanky, id be fine. That said, GQ didnt put a gun to their heads. Obviously if they had their way Dianna would have been even less dressed than lea. Theyre mainly uncomfortable to look at because lea isnt sexy and she is trying way too hard.
I love diannas blog response. Its better than lea’s “but i was in really good shape this summer, so…”. She really sounds like a lovely normal person. Dianna > Lea.
The PTC should worry less about photoshoots in a mens magazine and more about parenting kids. I think the focus on the blonde chick’s “apology” should be less on the “Im Sorry” and more on the “How about instead of telling me how to do my job, you go and parent your kids?” This isn’t pedophilia. This isn’t borderline pedophilia. Inappropriate? Sure. But that’s about it. Glee isn’t Hannah Montana. It often explores controversial and adult topics. Yeah, it’s about high school kids, but it’s not aimed directly at impressionable kids. No child is going to be picking up GQ, and if that kid is, that’s the parents fault for not doing their job, not GQ’s for having a tacky photoshoot in it. And I can guarantee that sexual predators aren’t reading GQ. Something tells me that adult women dressed up as sexy cheerleaders isn’t really a pedophile’s thing.
This is so much ado about absolutely nothing.
@ comment 25 (can’t read name) — As I said to GQ, way to miss the point, dude (and you gave your dudeness away by calling Dianna the “blonde chick”). Stay classy!
Funny though how Ryan Murphy forbids the actors from hooking up with each other in their trailers, but allows them to do shit like this?
Ah well, anything that’ll get people talking about the show, I guess…
I like Lea. I agree she comes across as trying too hard, but, hey, who’s perfect.
Until she does something much worse than annoying people I’ll still like her & admire her talent.
The part that I think is wrong is that the photographer is a known pervert, it is absolutely disgusting that people are still giving him work.Because I know how Terry Richardson is, the pictures disturb me since these are the type of things he gets off on.
The fact that the photos are supposed to be extremely sexed up teenagers and that it is only the women who are sexed up is very distasteful to me, but not necessarily wrong. I think they have every right to do this photo shoot but if the public wants GQ/Terry Richardson/These actors to know that this is not the kind of crap we need to see they should absolutely not purchase the magazine or visit the GQ website, not give them much attention at all. The only way companies understand what the public does and does not want is through making/losing money.
@heathen I’m a girl, thank you very much, and I referred to her as “the blonde chick” because I didn’t know how to spell her name and didn’t want to fuck it up, nor did I care enough to scroll up and find it. Also, I don’t know or care who the fuck she is because I don’t watch glee. Way to jump to a conclusion.
And no, I’m not missing the point. Just because I said that the PTC shouldn’t have called it pedophilia because it’s NOT doesn’t mean I don’t comprehend their point. I totally get what they’re trying to say, I just think they’re wrong for saying it. It’s a mens magazine. A men’s magazine that consistently (at least for the last little while here because GQ isn’t what it once was) features famous women in various states of undress. Was this shoot inappropriate? Sure. It is tacky, yeah. But should we be up in arms about it? No, you should spend your time doing better, more constructive things. And OF COURSE the guy is going to be completely dressed. Is anyone surprised by that? The fact that you were offended by it judging from your previous post is almost laughable. A dude magazine featuring a fully clothed dude with two semi naked girls. Wow, how offensive and totally out of the ordinary. Men don’t want to look at other men undressed, at least not the ones who read GQ. They want to fantasize that they’re the guy in the middle of slutty cheerleaders.
I don’t think it’s borderline pedophilia, but there was no need to do a shoot like this. At the very least they could have put the guy in his manpanties too.
But they deserve every bit of shit they’re getting for this.
Between ‘separating reality from fantasy’ and ‘heightened versions of our characters’, no one seems to know where they’re going. It’s only ever about coming, anyway. Second verse, same as the first: it’ll happen again.
Bodhi, you totally nailed the only thing that bugs me here. That photo skeeves me out, especially after reading the article on Mr Creepypants (UGH).
The photos are trashy, but I definitely like Dianna more after reading her blog post. Honestly, alot of the actors on Glee sing just as good, if not better than chiclet tooth lea michele. The episodes where other actors are spotlighted are much more enjoyable.
It is “THAT” bad…YES, these people are in their 20s…BUT they are playing TEENAGERS. I used to let my little girl watch this show with me…she has not watched ONE of the episodes from this season, only a few of the songs…and if they keep this up, I will not be watching it anymore either. Let them pull this crap when they graduate and go to college… not while they’re still supposed to be 16 (and no, I am not naive, I know what goes on in high schools–but they don’t have to glamorize it). Next there will be some reality show glamorizing teen pregnancy… oh wait…that’s already out there. It’s a sad, sad world we live in…we don’t have to highlight the negative aspects of it.
let’s not all be ignorant ok? the photographer is a known pervert who exploits young and impressionable models. plus these actors play teens! PLUS they are posing as students in a school. the show is not geared toward men so why the hell is this photoshoot that way? this is why 13 year old girls are getting knocked up. everything has to be sexualized even a musical that takes place in a high school. i have had enough and i am not watching this lame show ever again (i only watched the britney spears episode and it was ok)
OK, so grown ups posing sexy for a men’s magazine is appropriate, but 9 year old Willow Smith acting oh-so grown up isn’t? Ah, ok then.
I don’t like the setting of the shoot, but other than that I have no problem with the Glee kids doing something like this. Although I don’t find Lea attractive at ALL. I did like Dianna’s response, it was very well put.
@37: I don’t understand the comparison. Aren’t they different things? I could understand a comparison of WS with other media-covered kids her age in the entertainment industry, but I’m kind of lost, here.
They are adults in the photos, but that is not the image being portrayed is it?
This shoot is meant to look like a school (presumably a high school) and this has a clear “jail-bait” undertone.
I don’t find it as offensive as I do horribly cliched and stale.
We do not need another woman-dressed-as-a-girl while licking a lollipop in her white cotton undies with pigtails in her hair. It is all so ridiculously trite and hackneyed.
On a relatively related note, I hate this show. I do not understand the hype. Just…. ugh.
OK, I think the biggest problem I have in this is the photographer’s rape-ish reputation. I read the linked articles, and the articles linked from that article and… this guy is awful. Absolutely awful.
I feel so, so, so bad for any young girl who works with him. He basically pressures them to touch his dick, have sex with him or random guys, or make them give him a blowjob, or what have you. Terrible things. This man is a class-A pervert/rapist who has the official sanction of the fashion industry. I am disgusted.
I want to start a letter-writing campaign against this guy.
Terry Richardson is a pervert, a perpetrator of sexual abuse, and generally a waste of space. I hope the one good things that comes out of this…disturbing…photo shoot is that he becomes a liability for magazines. He pressures and manipulates (female) models into doing inappropriate stuff. He’s had years to perfect his predator behavior, unlike the Glee cast, which has only been popular for a year or so. He’s the one that should be getting grief, in my opinion.
Ridiculous. If Glee’s supposed to be a show championing the underdogs, why not have the WHOLE CAST take part in this silly photo shoot? Why only the cute leads?
Their all old enough to make their own decisions. The characters they play are not who they are in real life so I don’t see the problem. If parents are concerned don’t show your kids the magazine…it’s not rocket science. Glee was meant for an older audience anyways not 8 year old kids. Be realistic
I was not prepared for the shot of the brunette on the bench with her legs spread wide open in nothing but tiny underwear and thigh highs…GQ? Go fug yourselves, you horny ball sack obsessed ho-mongers talking your elitist photographic art chow chow, dudes, this is too much, for one and for only one reason: Is it too much to ask that the media keep my porn where i like it, out of the mainstream?
Lea and Terry Richardson obviously work very well together, but they need to get it into porn where they belong…
Or, maybe GQ just needs to give into their base urges and testosterone driven marketing schemes and cross-over, I mean, Lea can’t even cross her legs on a bench…and they think that’s acceptable.
My gawd, if that were my daughter…
If it talks like a ho, if it walks like a ho…