The Rolling Stone has put many a rock star on its front page, but the magazine’s next edition will feature a celebrity of an entirely different kind: Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev.
The 19-year-old teen’s face now sits on the iconic magazine’s cover against a soft background, hair tousled and lips curled slightly in a smile. Many have likened the shot to an older Rolling Stone cover featuring The Doors’ singer Jim Morrison. While the cover is aesthetically pleasing, it comes as no surprise that the Rolling Stone’s website has been bombarded with enraged comments and many readers have expressed their goal to boycott the magazine.
Boston’s Mayor, Thomas Menino, spoke out against the cover page as well, stating that it was “a total disgrace” and that the magazine should have focused on honoring the bombing’s victims instead of “glorifying a guy who created mayhem.”
The Rolling Stone’s editors have since responded with an online statement of their own, which appears at the very beginning of the article about Tsarnaev.
“Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day,” claim the editors. “The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens.”
The article, “Jahar’s World,” breaks down how Tsarnaev went from being a popular high school athlete to a radical terrorist who destroyed many lives. It includes interviews with Tsarnaev’s old wrestling coach, his teachers, and friends who still remain beyond shocked that the Jahar they knew could have committed such a high-scale atrocity. More importantly, the story seeks to answer how a young man leading a seemingly happy life could have hidden the “monster” inside of him for so long.
Tsarnaev’s hearing began on July 10 in a Boston federal courthouse, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges.