The City of Ithaca’s Wegmans, CVS and Rite-Aid stores will not stock the controversial Rolling Stone issue featuring accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev when the magazine hits newstands Friday.
Outrage erupted earlier this week when Rolling Stone revealed that Tsarnaev, following the likes of The Beatles and several former US presidents, would be featured on the cover of the magazine’s Aug. 3 issue. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino immediately condemned the decision, telling the magazine’s publisher the cover “rewards a terrorist with celebrity treatment.”
Prior to announcing that they, too, would not sell Rolling Stone issues in their stores, Wegmans, CVS and Rite-Aid were all barraged over social media by pleas not to carry the magazine. Customers said Rolling Stone’s issue was an affront to the three killed and more than 264 injured in the Boston attacks.
The three grocery store and pharmacy chains quickly responded, each issuing statements or tweets Wednesday and Thursday saying they would not sell Rolling Stone’s Aug. 3 issue in their stores.
Several Ithacans and area residents on the Twittersphere expressed their approval of the chains’ decisions to pull the Rolling Stone issues.
Original Author: Akane Otani