Poor Newsweek! Its inboxes are overflowing with reader disdain after it challenged fashion designers to help North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il spruce up his look. Second-tier designers created Hipster Kim, as seen at left, as well as Respectable Kim, Sexy Kim, Classic Kim, Tourist Kim, and Yeah Baby Kim. The tourist version of Kim Jong Il has a rocket in his shorts (I cannot believe I just wrote that) and is decked out in a gut-baring "I got bombed in Pyongyang T-shirt." Yeah Baby Kim sports leopard-print underpants.
The original story contains these killer lines:
"If Kim Jong Il is losing his nukes, can his drab jumpsuit be far behind?"
"North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is a man whose outfit is as rigid as his regime."
Indeed. But for some reason, readers are upset, saying nuclear war is so not funny and Newsweek is not place for such nonsense:
"Next maybe we'll see: ‘Color your own nuclear sunset of the human race!’ Or, ‘Take one of our insurgent figures and drill him full of your own custom-patterned bullet holes.’ Somebody who runs this so-called ‘news magazine’ must be deeply, truly insane."
“During much of the 20th century, Hollywood and our media and press demonized Arabs. Look where it got us. Now Newsweek is demonizing Kim Jong Il per his fashion. Jeeez! Seems like something you'd see on MySpace. Surely Newsweek can do better.”
Oh, but it can do better! Because it didn't leave us disappointed that there's no Cross-Dressing Kim or Golfer Kim - you can download your own "Kim-plate" and dress him yourself. Then, you can e-mail your twisted creation to Newsweek and editors' faves will be posted in an online gallery! Isn't technology just awesome? Of course, after this kind of reader venom, it remains to be seen whether the gallery will ever grace our screens.
