Vanity Fair staff reportedly pushed back after learning that senior leadership had discussed the possibility of featuring Melania Trump on the magazine’s cover.
Global editorial director Mark Guiducci was said to have expressed interest in the idea, but some employees objected strongly and threatened to resign if the plan advanced, according to the New York Post. “I will walk out the motherf**king door, and half my staff will follow me,” one editor told the New York Post.
One editor doubled down, telling The Post, “We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife; we’re just not going to do it. We’re going to stand for what’s right.” The editor added: “If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s, I’ll do it. If [Guiducci] puts Melania on the cover, half of the editorial staff will walk out, I guarantee it.”
Some staff members, however, expressed skepticism about the backlash, suggesting the threats to resign were largely performative. “It’s all talk,” one employee told the Post. “If they put her on the cover, people will protest and gripe about it, but I don’t see anyone quitting such a prestigious job over that.”
The same staffer added: “Honestly, there will be people who push back, but it’s ultimately Mark’s decision. He’s the one who will sink or swim over that choice, not the rest of us.”
Melania Trump was never featured in Vanity Fair or in Condé Nast’s Vogue during her husband’s first term in office, in contrast to Michelle Obama, who appeared on Vogue’s cover three times while serving as first lady. Trump, a former model, has previously appeared on numerous magazine covers during her career without controversy.
