Eye Opener: Behind the Glee Photo Shoot That Has the Cast Apologizing

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Reuters

The show surely gives the FCC a rise every week, so why are cast members backpedaling about a racy photo shoot for GQ? 

The three Glee cast members who decided to show some skin for November’s issue of GQ magazine have some explaining to do. While twenty-somethings in real life, they appear on Glee each week as the songsters of William McKinley High School.  Because of their teenage personas on the tube, some parents groups are saying the photos call up feelings of pedophilia.

On the GQ cover, Glee cast members Lea Michele (Rachel) and Dianna Agron (Quinn) are seen wearing hardly more than underwear and cardigans that look too small to fasten. Cory Monteith (Finn), displaying his classic smile, wraps his arms around both girls. Inside, if you can believe it, even more clothes come off. Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, was the first to speak out about the photos Wednesday, writing in a press release, “It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on ‘Glee’ in this way… Sadly, this is just the latest example of the overt sexualization of young girls in entertainment.”

The raunchy poses hearken back to Britney Spears’ 1998 chart-topper, “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” where the then-16-year-old Spears bared her midriff in the song’s music video. The song’s astronomical success across the world proved that talent, plus a healthy dose of controversy, can propel sales. Glee star Dianna Agron crafted an apologetic response to the naysayers on her blog, calling up Spears, among others, who may have shown a little too much in past years: “In the land of Madonna, Britney, Miley, Gossip Girl, other public figures and shows that have pushed the envelope and challenged the levels of comfort in their viewers and fans…we are not the first. Now, in perpetuating the type of images that evoke these kind of emotions, I am sorry.”

Just add the Glee cast to a long line of predecessors who’ve shown too much to the camera: Vanessa Hudgens, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, and NewsFeed is sure there are plenty more that have since faded from memory. Maybe the racy photos will help attract a healthy new dose of Gleeks – because they enjoy the show’s music, of course. (via Washington Post)

— By Nick Carbone