Who Ya Calling “Whitewashed”?

Readers loved Chris Kornelis' cover story detailing how Bob Marley's Legend was sold to the suburbs (“The Whitewashing of Bob Marley”, June 27). Our headline? Not so much.

Christian Clark writes, “While I enjoyed Chris Kornelis' article on Marley, I'm a bit miffed by its title. Why use 'whitewashing' when the penultimate paragraph reads, 'Robinson may have softened Marley's image, but he didn't whitewash it'? Is the case one way or the other (and if so, which is it?)? Or does he mean to imply a kind of balance or compromise between what might be seen as two extremes of, say, authentic art and spurious commercialism?”

Jarvis Mitchell does some multitasking: “The headline screams Bob Marley was whitewashed, but the article concludes he wasn't. That's more UpWorthy than BuzzFeed! And for what it's worth, I'd like to join the growing chorus of those who find Henry Rollins, his column and his intellect to be pedestrian. L.A. Weekly can do better.”

Henry Collins has a different annoyance, writing, “Your cover story on 'The Whitewashing of Bob Marley' indeed whitewashes the very relevant fact — still used by his followers and fanatics to hate and discriminate — that Marley was a blatant homophobe. Interesting that homophobia is generally unacceptable in U.S. media except when spouted by blacks, who for the most part (especially if they're celebrities, living or deceased) are immune to charges of same, and of anti-Semitism. And no, I'm not Jewish nor gay, just fair-minded.“

Finally, Gina Grandi is sobbing. “I want to thank you for your wonderful article on Bob,” she writes. “I was obsessed with Bob as a teenager growing up in Joshua Tree. Today I did a Google news search wondering how Bob is making news all this time later, and I was so happy to read your article. As I write, I have tears filling my eyes, confused at why Bob had to die. His music is so wonderful.”

Policing the Bouncers

Juan Michael Torres praises Jessica P. Ogilvie's report on bad Hollywood bouncers (“Security Lapse,” June 27). He writes. “I'm glad to see that someone (especially a great public journal like the L.A. Weekly) is finally shedding light on a 'hush, hush' unfair nightclub culture. Jessica P. Ogilvie executed a well-written, unbiased piece. Thank you!” You're welcome!

Congratulations

The L.A. Weekly was a big winner at Sunday's Southern California Journalism Awards, sponsored by the L.A. Press Club. Staff writer Gene Maddaus was named Print Journalist of the Year for the second year in a row, and the paper picked up another six first-place honors, including awards for design (Darrick Rainey), column writing (Gendy Alimurung), personality profile (Ben Westhoff), criticism (Amy Nicholson), online commentary (Ali Trachta) and online entertainment news (Jennifer Swann). Congratulations to all!

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