Terry Richardson

I felt like I was going crazy over here - was I the only person who realized that the pictures from the GQ Glee photo shoot look like they've come straight out of an American Apparel catalogue? There's been so much buzz and shock over this photo series (which I'll admit is saucy and lascivious) and that surprises me - this is nothing new to us. I would have thought that the general public were desensitized to this sort of thing by now, and especially when it is appearing in is a publication such as the Gentleman's Quarterly.

Incidentally - the American Apparel photographer is not the same person, but compare the pictures below:

Talk about the GQ photo shoot made it into Google News for a few days straight and so of course I checked it out. Only later did I recognize the name of the photographer, and when I did I felt dirty: Terry Richardson.

Terry Richardson. I know why I know you. It is because of this: http://ny.racked.com/archives/2010/03/19/more_stories_of_terry_richardso... and this http://jezebel.com/5494634/meet-terry-richardson-the-worlds-most-fked-up...

This is a man who would strip down and waggle his effeminate 'manliness' in the faces of young and inexperienced (sometimes underage) girls who were hoping to make it big in fashion and therefore too afraid to stand up for themselves or tell anyone. It is soft porn shot of unwilling subjects. Here's a quote from the Racked article I linked to:

One model told Jezebel that Richardson had coerced her into going down on him on-camera; another describes being manhandled at a Richardson shoot at a Suicide Girls party when she was underage. Meanwhile, W magazine hasn't worked with him in years, perhaps because the art director took offense to a photo he did of a woman with her head in an oven.

Before you argue that this is an isolated incident and possibly / probably biased reporting by a bitter model, you should take a look at this [The Gloss], this [NY Post], this [NY Post] and this [NY Observer]. Colour me convinced that this man is a pervert.

I enjoy occasional naughty, risque, out-there advertisements and photography. However, where the subjects are not 100% ok with the pictures being taken of them and have been manipulated or coerced in any way into removing their clothing and posing explicitly (this link is not safe for work) - that's not ok. It's doubtful that with such a high-profile shoot the Glee actors were manipulated in any way, but still I am surprised that GQ would in clear conscience hire someone with this stack of allegations against him.