LA Weekly criticised for ‘sexist’ Sky Ferreira interview

LA Weekly has been forced to issue a public apology after it published a lengthy feature focusing on Sky Ferreira’s “sex appeal” and “killer tits”.

The 1442 word interview – titled “Sky Ferreira's Sex Appeal Is What Pop Music Needs Right Now” – was written by the publication’s so-called “angriest (and nerdiest)” music columnist, Art Tavana. In it, he compares the singer to both a “turbo-charged Italian sports car” and to Madonna; drawing similarities between Ferreira and the “Like A Virgin” singer’s boobs.

“Both Sky and Madonna have similar breasts in both cup size and ability to cause a shitstorm,” he writes in the piece, which was published last Friday (June 17). “When Ferreira dropped her debut, Night Time, My Time, three years ago, the bare-breasted album cover nearly broke the internet... (I) couldn't help but reminisce on the past, on Madonna's defiantly atomic boobs – the two knockers that altered the course of human history.”

The article goes on to compare Ferreira to other women in the industry; dismissing Lorde as “depressed”, Meredith Graves as “bitter”, and Britney Spears as a “mindless product”. It also gives a special mention to Beyoncé, who Tavana describes as “grabby”.

Ferreira’s actual sound and music style sadly doesn’t receive a mention until near the end of the piece, with the writer instead opting primarily to dissect the star’s “sex appeal”. “We almost never have the audacity to admit that her looks – specifically, her Madonna-ness – is her most direct appeal to the American consumer,” he justifies. “But to pretend like looks don’t matter in pop music is ridiculous. Looks matter; they will always matter. This is pop music, a genre firmly grounded in the aesthetic of ‘80s magazine cutouts and Calvin Klein adverts.”

Since being published, LA Weekly has offered a public apology, and has admitted that the piece “crossed the line.”

“My biggest regret, in all of this, is that we may have made people feel like LA Weekly is a publication that doesn't take women or women's issues seriously, because that's not the case,” stated Music Editor Andy Hermann. “I am not here to make excuses; instead, I will say that, in this line of work, we make judgment calls on what to say and how to say it all the time, and sometimes we get it wrong. This time, Tavana and I got it wrong.”

Ferreira has yet to issue an official statement on the article, though she did thank LA Weekly for the apology in an Instagram post yesterday (see below).