The publishers behind the men's magazine Sports Illustrated has left a bitter taste in critics' mouths after taking photographs of women wearing bikinis at some areas where the Hurricane Irma hit just recently. Critics addressed their distaste for the photo op all over the internet.
On Sept. 12, Tuesday, Sports Illustrated took to the Caribbean to take photos of the cheerleaders of the National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Brooklyn Nets. On a normal day, this would have been fine. However, according to Page Six, the place just suffered a devastating disaster, thanks to the hurricane last week, and a lot of people find this act to be rather insensitive.
The photo showed ten girls in bikinis, with the beautiful backdrop of Barbados, feet in the sand, lush trees in the distance, and a slight overcast.
Currently, the place is receiving aid from the British army to distribute relief goods and to help the citizens in the Caribbean in any way they can in order to get them quickly back on their feet. The Sports Illustrated shoot took place in Barbados, which is a popular hotspot for tourists for the Brooklyn Nets' 2018 calendar. A few days before the shoot took place, Sports Illustrated posted on their Instagram a photo of a topless woman, as a teaser promo for the NFL.
The photo which was posted on the social media platform was shot in Houston, which is currently also trying to pick itself up after being hit with Hurricane Irma. These rapid succession of photos by Sports Illustrated infuriated critics, and most especially, the numerous victims of the powerful storm. According to Fox News, a reader of the magazine stated that it was "incredibly shameless and inappropriate given the devastation in Texas and the Caribbean."
As much anger as Sports Illustrated is receiving for their Barbados photo op, some of the anger could be misdirected, since the place was not actually hit by Hurricane Irma. According to the Daily Star, some of the angry internet protesters might have confused Barbados from Barbuda, the latter being the place that was actually along Hurricane Irma's path, and experienced a truly horrific aftermath, leaving countless people with no homes.
Sports Illustrated has yet to comment on the issue.
