Gabourey Sidibe Cropped & Lightened On Cover Of Elle Magazine

One of these pictures is not like the others…Care to discuss?

This October, Elle Magazine is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the release of four different covers dedicated to entertainment’s most accomplished “TwentyFiveSomethings.” Instead, the style mag is dancing with drah-mah after allegations that it ruthlessly cropped and lightened supersized Precious star Gabourey Sidibe on her Silver Anniversay cover. While slimmer Elle Cover Girls Megan Fox, Lauren Conrad and Amanda Seyfried are all shown in full body shots, Gabby’s cover is a closeup of just her face and noticeably fuzzy hair extensions. (Really Elle? You couldn’t at least flat iron the Sistah’s weave?)

And to really ramp up the controversy, the blogosphere is abuzz with whispers that the Oscar-nominated newcomer’s rich mahogany skin tone was digitally-lightened before arriving on newsstands.

In a fiery blog entry entitled “Gabourey Sidibe Is A (Much Lighter) Elle Cover Girl,” Colorlines.com uses a verbal sword to take Elle editors to task: “Sidibe’s skin is noticeably lighter than usual. Elle clearly couldn’t handle Sidibe’s real skin color, and traded away her actual color for something dramatically lighter. It’s a common, tired practice, and the routine is well-practiced: beauty companies and fashion magazines regularly lighten women’s skin (and darken the faces of black men), pissed off consumers shout back, and sometimes an apology is issued. But come the next fall collection or election season, photo retouchers are inevitably back to trying to make women of color more attractive by lightening them, and darkening the skin of men of color to make them seem more dangerous and suspect. Color, still, is everything….”

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the Gabourey Sidibe Elle Controversy! Should obese stars be relegated to headshots-only for magazine covers? Does digitally-lightening make Sidibe the victim of discrimination? Sound off in the Comments Section below…