Travis Scott Criticized For Removing Amanda Lepore From Astroworld Cover
On Friday, the explosively popular Houston vibe-rapper Travis Scott will release his much-anticipated new album Astroworld. (It’s the one he’s been promoting with giant statues of his own head in strategically-placed locations.) This week, Scott unveiled two different covers for Astroworld — both blindingly ugly, both shot by the famous photographer David LaChappelle. And because of one of those covers, Scott is now facing accusations of transphobia.
The second of those covers — the decadent nighttime one — shows an amusement park full of near-naked models. And as Page Six reports, the original version of the photograph featured Amanda Lepore, the transgender model and performance artist. After seeing that she was edited out of the final cover, Lepore posted about it on Instagram, writing, “I’m curious why I’m not on the picture.” (She theorizes that she “upstaged everyone in the photograph.”)
That omission has led to charges of transphobia. RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Aquaria, for instance, tweeted, “Grab a towel. Your phobias are showing.”
The mysterious case of the disappearing Amanda…. hmmm @trvisXX 🙄 pic.twitter.com/COflbfoHVH
— Aquaria (@aquariaofficial) August 1, 2018
Also fun fact: u can tell exactly the mindset and beliefs of (presumably) travis and (specifically) his fans by the repulsive remarks they share about a very valid complaint about the artwork regardless of who’s complaining. Grab a towel. Your phobias are showing.
— Aquaria (@aquariaofficial) August 1, 2018
According to Page Six, LaChappelle defended the removal, posting, “Stuff happens not everything’s a hate situation… Everybody wants to explain everything with some phobia or whatever… ain’t nothing to do with hating.”
Scott, of course, just had a baby with Kylie Jenner. Jenner is the daughter of Caitlyn Jenner, maybe the most famous transgender woman on the planet.
