Controversial Michelle Obama picture vanishes from Google

Not a racist image

It seems the image originally came from:

www.Celerbtityapes.com

Where you will find the faces of many celebrities of all races morphed to look ape like.

So as well as Michelle Obama there's Harry Potter, Walter Kronkite and various other white people made to look like apes. Seems a pointless site but not a racist one!

By cyberindie on 25 Nov 2009

Does anybody have a copy of the picture so that it can be re-hosted elsewhere?

I decry racism in all forms, but I also decry censorship and media driven hysteria.

This picture needs to go back up as a kick to the crotch for the censors and to the hysterical busy bodies who wanted it taken down.

Racism is bad, but so is the removal of a legitimate image (it was on a site where famous people of all races were lampooned in the same way) because of media hype.

By Perfectblue97 on 25 Nov 2009

Hardly a conspiracy

The site removed the image and Google's index has been updated since then. That's kinda how Google works...

Additionally there is a cached version of the page, here: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:0hot-girls.bl
ogspot.com/2009/10/michelle-obama.html

It just so happens that the cached version was created after the image was taken down.

By john_robnob on 25 Nov 2009

eh ?

sorry i just dont get it, how can an image of a black woman being morphed into the face of a monkey be classed as racist ??
how does that work ?
would a morphed photo of margaret thatcher and a monkey be any different ? uglier maybe.
i cant beleive this was an item on the news earlier !! what is the world coming to

By baileytech on 25 Nov 2009

Re: eh?

BAILEYTECH: sorry i just dont get it, how can an image of a black woman being morphed into the face of a monkey be classed as racist ??


JW: I quite agree - just search for 'George Bush Monkey' on Google images. Seems it isn't racist to portray a white man as a monkey. But many people think it is racist to portray a black woman as a monkey.

The last time I looked, apes had all manner of different coloured faces.

I haven't seen the original site, but it seems to me this is all getting blown well out of proportion. If, as has been stated elsewhere, the site contained all manner of celebs portrayed as apes, then really - what is the issue. Anyone in the public eye will be caricatured in one way or another.

I wonder how many people have actually taken the time to seek out a larger version of the image too. It is laughable when seen bigger than a thumbnail, and looks like a ten year old did it in MS Paint.

To my mind, those labelling this as a racist image are the people paying a little too much attention to skin colour. They need to get over it. We are all the same - and that includes 'mickey taking' potential.

By sexyjw on 26 Nov 2009

Racism in the eye of the observer?

cyberindie misspelled the sites URL. This is it: http://celebrityape.com/

By Dusty_Trigger on 26 Nov 2009

Aj1

Are some of you guys for real? Or are you kids?

Black people for hundreds of years have been characterised as being monkeys. It was part of the myth to say that we were sub human.

Portraying Michelle in that manner buys into that myth and seeks to enforce it.

While I don;t believe in censorship that much, doesn't stop google censoring stuff in china, eh. When money talks, principles walk.

Mickey taking is one thing, perpetualting a negative stereotype is another.

Just wish some of you people could walk in someone else's shows and then you'd probably know what I mean, assuming you can think beyond your noses.

By Ajamu1 on 27 Nov 2009

I don't see how producing an image of the face of harry potter morphing into the face of an ape is perpetuating a negative stereotype?
Just because this image is of Mrs Obama instead makes zero difference in my opinion, the humour is the same (we all bleed red you know! We're all the same).
There is obviously humourous context here that is being massively overlooked - the same cannot be said of other very similar images, why is that I wonder?
In my opinion, people are looking for a racist explanation where none exists.
Sad really.

By robgt1 on 27 Nov 2009

Yes, lets continue to miss the point eh Rob?

Robgt1, read my post again. Does Harry Potter look Black to you? Surely you've not lost the ability to read or differential colour?

The fist line says "Black people for hundreds of years..." Not "human being". So, try using a relevant example which actually counters the point made.

The website, from what I understand seems to have been made by someone who's learnt how to use morphing and hasn't developed their skills beyond that. I am sure that in terms of the site's context, it is quite humourous. As a grown up, my homour doesn't stretch to juvenile antics.

Take it out of the site and its probably a poster that the BNP would love on their website. That's the point I am making.

What the real shame is that in the 21st Century, people still don't understand what racism is, or that it still exists.

As for the posters who want to re-host the picture, card carrying members of the BNP?

By Ajamu1 on 28 Nov 2009

You missed my point, of course.
You (and people like you) are making this about black people - it is not about black people, it is just taking the mickey out of people (note the lack of a colour reference) - hence my Harry Potter reference.
Everyone, in the eyes of that humourous website, is an ape.
To consider this to be in the remotest way racist is just stupid.
Attacking the level of execution carried out by the website owner is juvenile and detracts from your argument.
Taking something out of context is never a good idea - whether it be ape-based imagery or not.
I'm sure that there are many people who sadly lack the fundamental understanding of what racism is. I count myself in the fortunate majority in this case (I know what it is and I know I am not racist, I also hope we are the majority!).
Re-hosting is stupid idea as you have said, but for the reason I mentioned above - it removes context.

By robgt1 on 1 Dec 2009