Beyonce, Jay-Z Marriage Ignored? Racism Wasn’t The Issue, Simply No One Cared

Jay-Z and Beyonce have been dating for six years. They are essentially scandal free, relatively uninteresting (except Beyonce’s deplorable taste in fashion) and have been threatening to get married for the last two years. At some point, the media says “Ehh, quite crying wolf.”
What am I talking about you ask? Good question. I stumbled upon an article on Ben Widdecombe’s Gatecrasher (NYDN) where he asks: Were mags biased against Beyonce and Jay-Z?
As someone who covers celeb gossip (well, sometimes anyways) my first reaction was: no. When it comes to celebrities at the levels of Jay-Z and Beyonce (A-Listers for sure) race isn’t the issue. When all things are essentially equal, the only difference in any moderately educated and cultured person’s view is socio-economic, not race. From my perspective, race plays no part in my judgment of an individual, but a person’s values and how this effects their world view absolutely does, and sadly this is often predicated on their socio-economic standings. But this isn’t the point of the story.
Ben Widdiecomb’s article:
Are the celebrity media racist?
A top tabloid editor tells me that Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s wedding was played down by the weeklies because “African-Americans don’t sell covers.”
Of the big five celebrity glossies out midweek, only Us Weekly gave Beyoncé the top spot on the cover. Other magazines gave her second billing to the likes of Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Aniston.
“None of the magazines landed an exclusive on wedding pictures, which would have made the story bigger,” said one tabloid insider, justifying why Beyoncé was relegated to a small cover box on his magazine.
But even wedding photos make less money for black stars, says another source. “Eva Longoria can get $1 million for wedding photos, but without the expectation of cover sales, Beyoncé might have gotten as little as $250,000 if she had sold hers,” says a top editor.
Magazine publisher and black gossip pioneer Flo Anthony responds: “That sounds to me a very racist statement. Beyoncé is one of the biggest stars in the world, much bigger than Eva Longoria.”
Anthony publishes Black Noir for women, as well as Toy Box, a black parenting magazine with a celebrity focus. She said: “It is hard for African-Americans in magazines. Only a few people, like Will Smith and Halle Berry, are mainstream. Editors really still think that only blond hair and blue eyes sell magazines.”
As another tabloid source says: “We have a saying, ‘Only Oprah.’ Oprah is the only black celebrity big enough to put on our cover.”
But Us Weekly editor in chief Janice Min tells me: “Janet Jackson has been on our cover twice, for two of our best-selling issues we’ve ever had.”
Min is also the only non-Caucasian to helm a top celebrity magazine. She acknowledges there is a perception in her industry that black stars don’t sell covers, but adds: “Typically, you will hear that discussion among a group of all-white editors.”
Well, unless celebrity magazine editors represent an entirely different demographic than mainstream America, this sounds like a tempest in a teapot. Real racism exists, there is no doubt, and it is UGLY and reprehensible, but when you get to the level of celebritydom of Jay-Z and Beyonce, it’s just not applicable.
Admittedly, what may have been a factor in the lack of value for putting Jay-Z and Beyonce’s wedding on magazine covers, may have more to do with the celeb magazine consumer demographics as a whole. Flyover country (middle-America) who make up the majority of celeb magazine’s market share, are not your average listeners of rap or even R&B, which is the music Jay-Z and Beyonce predominately make. Especially Jay-Z, white kids may be buying this music, but they don’t much care about who Jay-Z does or doesn’t marry. Again, no one who buys celeb magazines care much about this “non” story.
And again, it’s not like they invited the media. They made several efforts to keep the media out.
When mainstream media starts making racist accusations where they don’t exist, it takes away from the real dangers of racism, which directly effect the poorest segments of society, not the rich A-Listers. When you boil it down, it just wasn’t breaking news - merely a foregone conclusion minus the pretty pictures.



























