The most controversial U.S. magazine covers of 2017

In this age of outrage, people are easily triggered by things with which they disagree.
Quite a few magazine covers set people off this year for a variety of reasons.
What follows is a summary of the U.S. magazine covers that caused the most controversy in 2017.

Mediocre-quarterback-turned-social-justice-warrior Colin Kaepernick proved to be a polarizing figure in 2017. Depending on your perspective, he’s either a showboating player who wanted to draw attention to himself as he rode the bench or a selfless crusader for racial justice.
GQ magazine drew criticism when it put Kaepernick on its cover and named him “Citizen of the Year,” overlooking arguably more worthy candidates.
(See articles by the Daily Mail and the New York Post.)

When Sports Illustrated did a cover story on protests by professional athletes, it caught flak for leaving Kaepernick off its composite image.
(See articles by the Washington Post, SB Nation, the Root, and the Federalist.)

Newsweek raised eyebrows with its Aug. 11 cover that depicted President Donald Trump as a slovenly couch potato and called him “Lazy Boy.” But that cover was tame compared to Trump’s treatment by foreign magazines. (More on that in a follow-up post.)
(See articles by the Huffington Post, Fox Business, Boston Globe and Salon.)

Rolling Stone was criticized for its fawning hero worship of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on its Aug. 10 cover. It carried the cover line “Justin Trudeau: Why Can’t He Be Our President?”
(See articles by the Huffington Post, the Blaze and the Ottawa Sun.)

Another cover that set off gag reflexes was the July 24 issue of New York magazine, which featured lovebird political commentators (and Trump critics) MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. (See article by the National Review titled “That Joe and Mika New York Magazine Cover Is Why Everyone Hates the Media.”)

Interview magazine got tongues wagging with its September issue. Its cover depicted reality TV personality Kim Kardashian West as First Lady and done up like Jackie Kennedy. (See articles by Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, the Daily Mail and the Daily Beast.)

New York magazine’s July 10-23 cover stirred up a hornet’s nest with its alarmist global warming cover story.
(See article by Mashable and Twitter Moments commentary.)

Newsweek got a prickly response to its cover story about women fighting against systemic sexual harassment. The cover illustration showed a balloon penis being popped with a pin.
(See articles by the Huffington Post, Slate and Splinter.)

Tennis star Serena Williams became the latest pregnant celebrity to pose for a magazine cover, with the August issue of Vanity Fair. Now some people are saying enough is enough with this clichéd cover.
(See articles by the Washington Post and Vox.)

The Hollywood Reporter was slammed for its lack of diversity on its all-male cover story on CNN.
(See articles by the Daily Mail and the Washington Post.)

Vogue apologized for its August cover story, which mischaracterized “gender fluidity.” It suggested that heterosexual couple Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik are gender fluid because they sometimes borrow each other’s clothing.
(See articles by CBS News, the Daily Mail and Statesman.)

In August, Paper magazine was accused of heavily Photoshopping singer Mariah Carey on its Las Vegas issue cover.
(See articles by the Mirror, Daily Telegraph and AceShowbiz.)

In November, Paper magazine set the internet on fire with its cover photo showing rapper-singer Nicki Minaj in triplicate and performing sex acts on herself.
(See articles by the Daily Mail, TooFab, AV Club, CBS News and US Magazine.)

In September, actress and wannabe lifestyle maven Gwyneth Paltrow was ridiculed for her cover photo on the premiere issue of her magazine Goop. Paltrow posed topless and covered in mud.
(See articles by Page Six, Huffington Post and People.)

People magazine ticked off a lot of people when it named country music star Blake Shelton as this year’s “Sexiest Man Alive” cover celebrity.
(See articles by the Los Angeles Times and Business Insider.)

People magazine also came under fire for its June 12 cover, which implied that Jennifer Garner gave an interview to the publication about life after her breakup with cheating husband Ben Affleck.
(See articles by the Huffington Post, USA Today and the Hollywood Reporter.)

Lady Gaga got pulses racing with her cover of V magazine when she exposed the bottoms of her breasts with a bit of areola.
(See articles by E Online, InStyle and Us magazine.)

Speaking of underboob with a hint of areola, Hustler magazine risked offending Muslims with its 43rd anniversary issue. The cover featured a model braless model wearing an American flag as a hijab that slightly exposed one breast.
(See articles by Yahoo, Fox News and Xbiz.)

Related reading:

Two more controversial magazine covers for 2017

The most controversial foreign magazine covers of 2017