The media is happy to attack domestic conservatives while preaching about the power of journalism, but it always bows to China.
When British GQ published its prestigious annual list of best-dressed men — this year topped by actor Timothée Chalamet — the magazine’s staff also named 10 of the world’s worst dressed.
Top of the list was Boris Johnson’s perpetually tracksuited chief adviser Dominic Cummings (“why does Boris Johnson’s political disruptor dress like an unlicensed cab driver?”). The nine others included Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (“Android chic is not a vibe”), US president Donald Trump (“A sad and sorry perennial fixture”), and Tory frontbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg (“A haunted pencil”).
Notice the common denominator. Two conservatives. But Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t make the list.
Xi, aka Commissar Winnie, did make the cut. But then quickly unmade it.
But on GQ’s own website, something was different. The “top 10” list had become a “top 8”. Missing were two individuals: China’s president Xi Jinping and king of Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn.
According to sources at Condé Nast, GQ’s parent company, the controversial world leaders had been removed after management got wind of who was on the list
In a statement to BuzzFeed News on Friday, a Condé Nast spokesperson confirmed the world leaders had been scrubbed from the worst-dressed list over concerns that it “would travel globally and grant traction” without necessary context.
“We are conscious that digitally published stories travel globally and can gain traction where they lack the necessary context and can cause unintended offence,” the Condé Nast spokesperson.
Trump, of course, is still on the list. There’s no worry about offense there. But offending the People’s Republic of China is a no-no. That’s journalistic courage.
Leave a Reply