Serena Williams’ GQ Cover Causes Controversy On Social Media

GQ Magazine recently announced that Michael B. Jordan, Henry Golding, and Jonah Hill would be their Men of the Year, and Serena Williams as their Woman of the Year. However, Williams’ cover was met with controversy when fans pointed out that the word men was crossed out and replaced with the word woman in quotation marks.

At the bottom of Williams’ cover, it mentions that Off-White designer Virgil Abloh contributed the handwriting on the cover. Nonetheless, some fans looked at the cover as complete shade. One fan said, “Ya’ll be doing Serena so dirty. She is so gorgeous, and so sweet, and literally a living breathing legend among us, and ya’ll will find any way possible to disrespect her, or put her down, or throw shade thinking ya’ll slick.”

ya'll be doing Serena Williams so dirty. she is so gorgeous, and so sweet, and literally a living, breathing legend among us, and ya'll will find any way possible to disrespect her, or put her down, or throw shade thinking ya'll slick smh

— mia (@mia___twt) November 13, 2018

Mick Rouse, the research manager for GQ Magazine, engaged in some of the comments from fans and mentioned that writing words in quotation marks are a part of Virgil Abloh’s style. He even encouraged fans to take a look at some of the previous designs Abloh collaborated with Williams on for Nike.

Because it was handwritten by Virgil Abloh of Off-White, who has styled everything in quotation marks as of late (see Serena's US Open apparel that he designed)

— Mick Rouse (@mickrouse) November 12, 2018

It quite literally has tags/quotations around it because that’s Virgil’s own style/branding, including in his partnership with Nike and Serena herself. That’s the only “message” behind it. pic.twitter.com/uaGV1DYDhC

— Mick Rouse (@mickrouse) November 12, 2018

During the U.S. Open, Williams wore a Nike dress, with the word “LOGO” in quotation marks printed on the dress.

Despite his explanation, not everyone was accepting of it and recalls the judgment Williams has faced in the past, due to her body.

If this was a style why not do something similar to Gal Gadot or is it that nobody would ever describe her as masculine?

— Cherry the Geek (@cherry_LA) November 12, 2018

So your unaware of the Serena being called a man, told her features and body are masculine? So you and your team thought this was the best direction to go in after Gal’s cover last year? Virgil was wrong to play on the attacks and so is GQ for the approval.

— Cherry the Geek (@cherry_LA) November 12, 2018

According to USA Today, in a letter to Reddit last year, Williams said, “I’ve been called a man because I appeared outwardly strong. It has been said that that I use drugs (No, I have always had far too much integrity to behave dishonestly in order to gain an advantage). It has been said I don’t belong in Women’s sports — that I belong in Men’s — because I look stronger than many other women do. (No, I just work hard and I was born with this badass body and proud of it).”