February 22, 2023
Jonathan Majors Responds to Criticism Over His ‘Beautiful Blackness’ Ebony Cover: ‘It’s Always Good to Make a Ruckus’
Jonathan Majors is unbothered by the criticism he received in response to his anime-inspired cover shoot for Ebony‘s February issue.
Majors was styled by Alexander-Julian Gibbson for the cover shoot, who drew inspiration from his favorite anime character, Donquixote Doflamingo from One Piece. The stylist showed some behind-the-scenes images from the photoshoot on Instagram to share how he came up with the stylish look.
“#BLACKWEEBS for the win! took inspiration for this look on #JonathanMajors from one of the flyest characters in #OnePiece,” Gibbson captioned his post. “He chewed 🤧”
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While the majority of the responses to the cover were positive, there was a small group of critics who found the cover to be emasculating, according to Hot New Hip Hop.
Majors recently hit the red carpet for the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premiere where he was asked about the cover shoot and the negative comments it received. The Harder They Fall star recalled being in another photo shoot when he started receiving an onslaught of notifications in response to the cover.
“I look [at my phone] and I go, ‘Oh no…oh yes!’” he said. “I think about the photo shoot and the folks that were there…all the wonderful folks and the culture.”
“It’s great, beautiful Blackness, art, cultural creativity, that’s what we’re about…It’s always good to make a ruckus. When it’s a positive ruckus, make the positive ruckus.”
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Fans applauded Majors’ response to the critics and demanded to know what issue they had with the sex cover.
“WHAT BACKLASH?? Who TF has anything to say about that beautiful body on the cover of a magazine,” one fan wrote. “Ppl just be saying anything smh 😂😂😂”