• Jessica’s new look bears an uncanny resemblance to American Idol’s resident drunk.
• Its time to decide once and for all, which Hollywood fatty has the biggest man-boobs.
• Cause of death still unknown for Anna Nicole, but now Zsa Zsa Gabor’s ex-husband is claiming he might be Dannielynn’s biological dad.
• Students are starting to use “im lingo” in their essays; And u thought kidz were getting smRtr…
• Finally, Queerty responds to those gays who care way too much about being Genre’s MOTY.
• Eddie Murphy is back to making crappy, unfunny flicks. It’s as though he’s trying to show everyone Dreamgirls was just a fluke.
• HX Media attempts to cut costs by continuing to fire the majority of its staff.
Left: Genre, June 2005. Right: Instinct, September 2006.
It’s not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with competing magazines putting the same talent on the covers of their magazines. It’s just that there’s a little something sad and awkwardly self-deprecating about a magazine copying an earlier cover of its competitor and then explicitly stating you’re just as good because of it.
And let’s not forget: This isn’t the only time a Genre cover has been near-duplicated.
While a Johnny Knoxville cover does not a copycat make, it’s worth noting that Out’s Johnny Knoxville September cover, like Genre’s July 2005 Knoxville cover, was actually preceded by The Advocate October 2004 Knoxville cover. Not that plastering the 13-24-year-old box office demographic savior on the cover of your magazine means you’re immediately on the level of Ann Coulter plagiarism – if that were true, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, Glamour, Us Weekly, Cosmo, InStyle, and Elle should all be sitting down for a Matt Lauer interview right about – but in the realm of gay journalism, how many times can we recycle a reality TV star’s V-shaped torso? Silly homos, always trying to out-gay each other.
(L to R: Genre’s July 2005 issue; Out’s September 2006 issue)
New Out editor Aaron Hicklin – known around Jossip Worldwide Headquarters as “that guy who skipped his own magazine’s first party on his watch” – was supposedly the successful catch by publisher Joe Landry, who stole Hicklin from BlackBook after an eight month search. But many an insider are already wondering: Where’s the payoff?
The “let’s be David Bowie gay—not Cher gay” Hicklin isn’t exactly proving himself, according to those with direct knowledge of the situation. With the September 2006 issue – the first edition fully under Hicklin’s control – he’s gone with Out’s tradition of choosing straight coverboys who play to the gay audience, throwing Johnny Knoxville on his book. The coverline? “Is Jackass the gayest show on TV?” (Excuse our rather sloppy scan.)
Johnny Knoxville? How innovative, we know. Especially when you look back to July 2005, when competitor Genre magazine put Knoxville on its cover shortly after it launched its own revamped image, flashing its redesign alongside new editor Chris Ciompi and owner Window Media.
Meanwhile, in his March 2006 publisher’s letter, Out’s Landry wrote “We have many weighty requirements for this extraordinary role,” and that “Out will help to uncover this voice—defining gay for a new generation. And for the United States itself.” That, or copying the gay generation of last year.
Related: All Aaron Hicklin and Out coverage
Editorial Director
