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."
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