Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Under Fire, Interpreter Shelves Proposed Swimsuit Issue

Nashville, TN -- After word of the project leaked to the media five days ago, Rev. Larry Hollon, publisher of Interpreter and General Secretary of Communications for the United Methodist Church announced that the magazine was cancelling its proposed swimsuit issue, slated for March.

Kathy Noble, editor of the publication, had accepted the initiative in order to boost subscriptions of the sagging Methodist bimonthly magazine, as well as add advertising revenues from apparel manufacturers launching new lines for the Spring swimwear market.

"I think that we figured that there would be a reaction," said one highly-placed anonymous source on the Interpreter staff, "but none of us anticipated such fierce anger at the decision. We were just trying to boost circulation!"

A flood of angry letters, e-mails, and phone calls to Nashville disapproved of Interpreter's decision. "It's outrageous!" exclaimed Rev. Greg Hazelrig of the Mississippi Annual Conference, who sent in his own letter of protest to Interpreter. "They should have known better than to slap the cross and flame on to this filth."

Rev. Abi Carlisle-Wilke of the North Alabama Annual Conference, who had been designated as the cover model for the swimsuit issue doesn't agree. "This was going to be the start of a good modeling career, and some old prudes have ruined it."

As of press time, there was no response from UM Reporter about whether that publication would match Interpreter's decision.

6 comments:

gavin richardson said...

classic!! abi would have been a great covergirl. larry doesn't have any guts. maybe we can do a women of the methoblogosphere calendar instead.

John said...

Hey, The Wittenburg Door did a swimsuit issue back in the 80s -- they had these generic photos of what they said were pastor's wives, in swimsuits, superimposed over various photos of the Holy Land.

Greg Hazelrig said...

They didn't use my whole quote. I thought that it was outrageous that Beth Quick was not on the cover.

Anonymous said...

I think they should replace the swimsuit issue with a special NASCAR issue, to coincide with the opening race at Daytona.

RERC said...

I subscribed to The Interpreter for my teenage son because of its wholesome articles about the UMC. Imagine my shock today when I opened up my mailbox and saw this filth. I cannot believe The Interpreter would stoop to this level of indecency. Cancel my subscription immediately!

Robin Russell said...

Don't tempt me, boys!