New York Times Hammered for Paper Thin Report on Billie Eilish Vogue Cover ‘Controversy’

Andrew ShusterMay 5th, 2021, 3:50 pm
 
Billie Eilish NYT British Vogue

British Vogue

The New York Times is facing the wrath of several journalists who are accusing the publication of creating a fake controversy surrounding Billie Eilish’s new British Vogue cover.

In a story titled “On That Bombshell Billie Eilish Cover for British Vogue,” the Times argued that some fans of the 19-year-old singer — known for wearing oversized track suits and hoodies — “feel betrayed” by her showing off her body in a corset on the cover of the fashion magazine.

The only example cited by the Times was the Twitter account @jetztissesraus, which had written, “Before: unique, different, a class of her own. After: mainstream, exchangeable, slick and polished. Why?”

Vice News correspondent Roberto Aram Ferdman, who was previously a reporter for The Washington Post, brought attention to the Times’s lack of substantial evidence to denote a true controversy.

He tweeted, “The New York Times published an article about how some people don’t like that Billie Eilish Vogue cover. And the entire thing hinges on one person (bot?) who didn’t like it: a Twitter user with 3 followers who joined the platform in December and has only tweeted in English once.”

It should be noted, @jetztissesraus boasts a single follower as of this writing, and the account has been locked.

Several other journalists followed suit in calling out the Times for forming an arguably sexist and sensationalist narrative based on one comment from a random, unverified and possibly fake Twitter account.

Reporters from The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, The New Republic, GQ and Rolling Stone were among those who weighed in on the Times’s questionable editorial choice.

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