Black News: Michelle Obama Gets Angry at PETA

No strangers to controversy, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is up to its old tricks again. This time they've raised eyebrows by using an image of Michelle Obama in an anti-fur advertisement without her permission. The White House is not pleased, to say the least.

The ad in question features the image of the first lady alongside the images of Oprah Winfrey, Tyra Banks, and Carrie Underwood underneath the slogan, "Fur-free and fabulous!" The ads, which PETA says features "a bevy of the smartest, most stylish, and most influential women in America," are being plastered all over the Washington D.C. Metro mass transit system, in addition to appearing in various magazines and websites.

While Winfrey, Banks and Underwood are all on record as publicly endorsing PETA's anti-fur efforts, first lady Michelle Obama cannot endorse special interest groups such as PETA. Thus, the White House is mildly perturbed by the use of the first lady's image in the campaign

 

Click to read.

Founder of Ebony Fashion Fair Dies at 93

Eunice W. Johnson gave Ebony magazine its name and for almost 50 years produced an influential traveling fashion show that brought haute couture to African-Americans while raising millions of dollars for charity.
The widow of Johnson Publishing Co. founder John H. Johnson, Mrs. Johnson, 93, died of renal failure Sunday, Jan. 3, in her Chicago home, according to a company spokeswoman.
A close business partner of her husband's since the beginning of Johnson Publishing in 1942, Mrs. Johnson remained the company's secretary-treasurer at the time of her death and for years wrote a monthly fashion feature for Ebony magazine.
Johnson Publishing's flagship, conceived as an African-American version of Life magazine and published since 1945, was named by Mrs. Johnson to reflect the mystique of fine black ebony wood, said Wendy Parks of Johnson Publishing.
But Mrs. Johnson's greatest legacy may be her role as producer and director of the Ebony Fashion Fair, an influential event that for decades has been a showcase for the world's top designers.

 

Click to read.