Sports Illustrated Shamed For Bikini Photo Shoots In Hurricane Ravaged Areas


As people struggle to salvage what is left of their lives after two massive hurricane events, the Sports Illustrated people have posted photos online of their bikini-clad models striking sexy poses in some of these storm-ravaged areas, according to a new report. The models are seen posing for photos in locations that were reported devastated in the wake of these storms.

Sports Illustrated is called out online for continuing to post these pictures that were taken in the areas that have left folks desperate for food and shelter today. It is not sitting well with some folks that the magazine has opted to do this despite lives being left in shambles.

As the Sports Illustrated folks usually do, they post photos of their work as they create the swimsuit edition or calendars for their magazine. The recently posted teasers shots show the Brooklyn Nets cheerleaders in scanty bikinis in various poses on the island of Barbados for the 2018 calendar. While these are the same type of pictures the magazine has traditionally posted throughout the years, doing this against the back drop of places that are now storm-ravaged areas has “raised some eyebrows,” according to Page Six.

As the military in the U.K. forms relief efforts for the people of Barbados, the Sports Illustrated 2018 calendar models on that island’s beach in their tiny bikinis doesn’t seem to convey the urgency of the situation for the people of Barbados today. Several pictures from their photo shoot were posted on Instagram and as Page Six reports, one of the magazine readers called them out on their lack of empathy after Hurricane Irma devoured the area.

It is not just the photo shoot from the Caribbean that is creating angst today. The team putting together the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue posted a picture a few days earlier of a model in Houston. The unnamed woman is topless and she lounging by a pool in Houston, where Hurricane Harvey caused devastation last week.

According to Page Six, one of the readers who got a gander at the locations of these photo shoots called the pictures “incredibly shameless and inappropriate given the devastation in Texas and the Caribbean.” While the Instagram pictures of the swimsuit models are out there for people to get an idea of what they can expect from the magazine this year, a former Sports Illustration swimsuit model posted a plea, which is quite in contrast to these women frolicking in the sun.

Hannah Jeter, who is a former cover model for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and a native of the Virgin Islands, posted a plea “amid the sexy snaps,” writes Page Six. Jeter writes,

“People in the Virgin Islands are running out of fuel, water and food. People are dying!!! People are lost!!!! We are an afterthought and are not getting the help that we need!!!… This is an emergency!!!!!”

According to NBC News, Hurricane Irma left “apocalyptic destruction in its wake” across the Virgin Islands and today there are fears among the people who live there that they will be forgotten. Shelby Alfred, a nurse who hails from Cruz Bay, spoke with NBC News and described what the islanders are experiencing today. She said,

“It’s complete devastation. There’s no power or water. Basically, almost everything got demolished. Everything is pretty much gone.”

[Image by Ricardo Arduengo/AP Images]

Even the shelter on that island, which is a school, has a partially collapsed roof. There’s not anywhere left intact to shelter the overwhelming numbers of people left without homes. Neighboring St. Thomas is running out of food and they fear they will be left without anything to feed the masses before supplies arrive. Even the fresh drinking water is getting scarce.

The contrast between the devastation in these hurricane-ravaged areas and the swimsuit models posing on the beach did not go unnoticed. This is evident by the comment from the Sports Illustrated fan who summed it up as “incredibly shameless and inappropriate.”

[Featured Image by Evgeniya Porechenskaya/Shutterstock]

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