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)

Thursday 27 January

By ZACHPOGO

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i agree 100%

Wednesday 26 January

By Mark

Gay's ruined the military... They should put them on the front lines with Feathers and Boa's....

By JMark

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If you joined the military,its morale would probably improve when you left.

You have no right to decide what someone should or shouldn't read. Maybe you should move to Iran or Cuba where this type of censorship is imposed on its citizens.

By wp

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I cannot believe they did that, but I cannot believe that two people that age would have kids, what are they thinking

By mark

They're gay, they don't think, silly you!

By chris

Elton John is just plain creepy.

By Tiffany

Mk I'm a christian, straight, grown, woman and I can't believe they did this. What do they think that the kids will be gay if they see gay people? That's absolutely ridiculous! It's like "if we don't see them, they don't exist"...? wth

And wasn't there some pics published of Clay Aiken with his baby son? And what about all of the unwed celebrities who get paid tons for their cover pics...? So where's the 'morality' in that?

By wphln

it's called sex, females even get it there. and as far as the bible thumping the bible also states love thy neighbor and do unto others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By teech

It's America isn't it. And therefore, it is the STORE'S RIGHT to decide what they do and do not show.

By rockhound34x

It happened in Mountain View, Arkkansas...what a total shock. I guess if they are content being trapped in the 19th century, more power to them.

By BC

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Back into the closet, and Jersey Shores, back into the gutter!! Reality is, Kids with two "moms" or two "dads" are the ones that have to deal with it in school. Maybe it twenty years it will be OK. We have to start somewhere.

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You must be proud of yourself Ginger. You go girl...you censor those offensive Obama covers. What an idiot!

I wonder if the good citizens of Mountain View were as offended by all the covers showing the unwed pregnant Bristol Palin. Oh wait...that's different. She is a heterosexual girl from a "good" family.

By yeppers

geez-everyone knows elton is gay, including children...get over it...

By Catherine

As soon as young kids see the shield (which is ridicules) you can bet they are going to try to see it.
All I see is love in the picture.

By kristieW

UM NO NOT REALLY; DONT KNOW YOUR CHILDS AGES; {IF YOU HAVE ANY} BUT 5 AND 6 YEARS OLDS WONT TRY TO LOOK AT IT; ALL THATS ON THEIR MIND IS IF THEY CAN HAVE A CANDY BAR OR BUBBLE GUM. GET A CLUE.

By badazgrandma

Can we please learn to spell before posting?

By dagoddess962279

Had this been Kissin' Kousins... Father/Daughter, Mother/Son, brother/sister on the cover with "their" new baby, Mountain View Harps would have been ecstatic to have that on their news stand WITHOUT the "shield to protect Harpers young shoppers". You've got to remember, this is Arkansas (and etc.) Country, the "po, po littl' Arkin-sah chil'rens" are already exposed to that. That is IF they aren't already a victim to it... Being exposed to same sex couples family pictures would more than probably "burn the corneas" off of them. By all means we wouldn't want that, now would we? Incest in families is most acceptable than gay families would ever be, just ask any folk thumpin' that Bible in that neck o' the woods. Ignorance is still so alive and well, must be the "thick" blood.

By martinslcp

For RAY: It is such ashame and so LIKE so-called "Christians" to judge and criticize others, always has been. Doesn't it say somewhere?, that we are ALL God's children??? If God made us, then he made everyone the way they are...I think he knows what he is doing. Worry about yourself, instead.

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