Elton John Magazine Censored By 'Family Shield' in Supermarket

By Zach Dionne Posted Jan 26th 2011 03:21PM

A Harps supermarket in Mountain View, Ark., censored an Us Weekly cover featuring Elton John, husband David Furnish and their new baby, Zachary. Deemed inappropriate for "young Harps shoppers," the store placed a "family shield" in front of the magazine.

Twitter user @jennhudd saw the censored cover and began tweeting a photo to celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, Anderson Cooper and Neil Patrick Harris, asking them to "bring attention" to the store's decision.

The Mountain View Harps responded to a call from PopEater on Wednesday afternoon with a curt "no comment" before hanging up. A call to the corporate office had us placed on hold, redirected and sent to a voice mail when asked for official comment.

CoverAwards.com had better luck speaking to Harps -- a cashier told the site Harps was "in a no-win situation" as children being shielded from the magazine cover would "have to know at some point [about gay families]."

PopEater's Naughty But Nice Rob Shuter reported that the Elton John cover sold poorly and wondered if America wasn't ready for "two men and a baby." Now he calls the censorship "very sad," asking, "We can let our families watch 'Jersey Shore' but not see a picture of Elton, his partner and their beautful baby boy?"

After originating the picture of the censored cover, @jennhudd reported the "family shields" had been removed, likely as a result of the Internet's interest in the issue. Jennifer sent a series of tweets suggesting offended parties call the Harps office and file complaints.

GLAADblog also spoke to Harps. The account:

I spoke with Harps Corporate Executive Assistant Marty Yarborough, who told me that every Harps store is equipped with these shields and that they get put up whenever customers complain about the content of a magazine cover. She said the word from the store about this particular cover was that "several" customers had complained, so the shield went up. She also confirmed that these shields are utilized on a store-by-store basis, so the magazine would not have been covered up at any of the other Harps locations, unless customers complained there as well. She also told me that the usage of the shield on this particular cover is "in no way our opinion on this issue." She quickly added, "we do not have an opinion on this issue."

BuzzFeed reports Harps has more than 60 locations in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

Elton John and David Furnish's son was born via a surrogate on Christmas Day. Zachary is the first child for John, 62, and Furnish, 48. The couple married in 2005 after being together for 12 years.

Based on Elton's recent sentiment for gay marriage opponents (hint: it involved an "F" and a "you"), we can assume he won't take kindly to being family-shielded in his moment of joy.

►Elton John Doesn't Care if His Son Is Gay or Straight

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Tags: David Furnish, Elton John

Comments

(1203)

Wednesday 26 January

By KR

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My my my...how soon before this country crawls out of the Dark Ages? We are so far behind in most everything these days. Small minds, smaller progress.
(I'll bet you have to have a note from your father to buy condoms in that store!)

Thursday 27 January

By Johnny

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GDOM,That might be the funniest posting I have ever read... Nope, it is the funniest most hilarious posting I have ever read in my life ! Thank you for making my day !

By Mike

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Kim Kardashian! Cosmopolitian. "Sexy Beach Bodies!" "Whitney on crack!" "Teen Moms!" "Britney's Breakdown!" "Charlie and Hooker!" NOW THESE ARE OFFENSIVE! Very sad.

By marky123

Agree, Mike . . . With so much stupidity being blasted on most magazine covers, I don't understand how a couple of happy people and a baby deserves to be censured.

By stu

DON'T SHOP THERE!

By Dottie

I seriously just look at my kids and give them the one raised eyebrow and say "rrrrrighttt".

By barbg

All the kids are gonna see is Grandpa, Jr. and baby.

By Kent

The response in support is typical because we have half the population walking around with out a clue, about 90% of those under 30 years old. It's not sensor. The sensor part is from all those who want the cover off there by ignoring and not respecting most people who get it.

By Varga

Yeah, whatever, it's all much ado about nothing. They mentioned in the article that that particular cover hasn't been selling very well. That's most likely due to people not having much interest in Elton John anymore. Or even knowing who he is for that matter. By the way, there have been other same sex couples posing on the front of magazines with their kids(Mellisa Etheridge and her partner for one)and no one said a word about that. And Clay Aiken was on the front of People magazine posing with his baby with the words "Yes, I'm Gay" in big bold print right next to him. Go figure.

By Keith Slough

Harps has the courage to cover up this DISGUSTING cover from innocent children. Hurray for the courage of such a store. I hope they never capitulate to the liberal mindset of this country.

By Me

It's ALL offensive. Kudos to Harp's for taking a stand. And shame on Jenn Hudd for spearheading the removal of the shields. I can't even get to the good magazines like Better Homes and Gardens or Family Circle without having to filter through the trash. Seriously! Nkluyi, how can you look past it when it's in your face? The porno magazines are covered up and are not sold at the registers. Thank Heavens. What has happened to our society? Why is this o.k.?

By colleen

So what! The shields are there to cover any magazine that may be offensive to its customers. The store isn't making a statement about homosexuality--it is simply using the shields as they are intended. The store may not feel that the Cosmo cover needs to be hidden either but those shields are offered to keep customers from being offended. It isn't saying that people should be offended by the cover--simply that some customers will be. Which is exactly what is happening and now they have people offended on both sides. Do you think they should pick the moral right or popular opinion of just continue to cover controversial covers? They can't win!

By ixtab6@aol.com

To Ray....the Bible cannot be taken literally in all ways. It also says to put a child to death if it disobeys. Would you kill a misbehaving kid?

By dethburger

Yeah Ray, it does say that in Leviticus...but it also says that wearing cotton blends and eating pork are also abominations too.

Do you do either of these two? I bet you do, which makes you just as wrong, according to the bible, as being gay.

Truth is, it also says that mouthy kids should be taken to the center of town and stoned.

Yeah, keep quoting the bible Ray, you have know idea what you are talking about.

By Snooz

Agreed, Mike, and those should have shields also!!!

By Ivey

They can live their immoral lifestyle anyway they want to BUT DON'T throw it in my face. I will teach my children that homosexuality is morally wrong, and they will teach their children it is morally wrong !!!!!!!!!

By rojo7449

What's so funny is the photos in the upper right corner are of two out of marriage mothers....still visible above the SHIELD.

By leni

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Way to go, keep your wives barefoot and pregnant and your children barefoot and ignorant, that's how a real man maintains control over his family.. If they're allowed to improve, educate and enlighten themselves they'll realize what a moron you are.

Congrats to Elton and David, beautiful baby.

By Dee

Good for Harps! If people don't want to see that crap we have rights tooooo!!!!

By Guenther

Thank you I totally agree

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