Business

Bloomberg Businessweek issues apology for ‘racist’ cover

Bloomberg Businessweek issued a formal apology for the cover illustration on last week’s issue — which some felt was insensitive and borderline racist.

The cover line screams “The Great American Housing Rebound” and then carries the subhead: “Flips. No-look bids, 300 percent return. What could possibly go wrong?”

All of the characters depicted in a cartoon house awash in money were drawn to look like minorities — implying that they were the ones expected to trigger the next bubble.

Ryan Chittum, writing in The Audit column of the Columbia Journalism Review, said “minority borrowers were disproportionately victimized in the bubble. But Businessweek here has them on the cover bathing in housing-ATM cash, implying that they’re going to create another bubble. That’s not OK.”

Oddly, the controversy did not seem to pick up steam, until the end of the week when Slate writer Matthew Yglesias on Thursday said that Businessweek “ought to be ashamed” by the cover treatment.

“Our cover illustration last week got strong reactions, which we regret. Our intention was not to incite or offend,” said Bloomberg Businessweek Editor-in-Chief Josh Tyrangiel. “If we had to do it over again, we’d do it differently.”