BJ’s Still Bans ‘Rolling Stone’ 20 Months After Tsarnaev Cover
When Rolling Stone put a windswept Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover in July 2013, residents and businesses in the Boston area criticized the seeming glorification of the man accused of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Rite Aid, Walgreens, CVS, and other regional stores banned that issue of the magazine and refused to put it on shelves. “Music and terrorism don’t mix!’’ Tedeschi wrote in a Facebook post with a red line through Tsarnaev’s face.
BJ’s Wholesale Club made a stronger promise: They would not carry Rolling Stone “for the foreseeable future.’’
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They’ve held fast to that promise ever since.
Over 20 months later, BJ’s does not have Rolling Stone on its shelves, a spokeswoman for BJ’s confirmed. Employees at BJ’s in Quincy, Stoneham, and Dedham all said that they did not carry Rolling Stone in their respective magazine sections.
“We select our magazine inventory based on the market for the publications where our various clubs are located,’’ BJ’s spokeswoman Maria Fruci said. “On occasion, we will adjust our selection based on the preferences and particular sensitivities of the communities which we serve.’’
This particular “sensitivity’’—the Boston Marathon bombings—continues to influence the company’s choices about which magazines the store offers.
Fans of Rolling Stone can still find issues at most other drugstores. CVS, for one, put the magazine’s next issue back on the shelves.
“CVS/pharmacy decided not to sell the July 2013 issue of Rolling Stone featuring Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its cover out of respect for the victims of the Boston Marathon attack and their loved ones,’’ CVS spokesman Stephanie Cunha said in an email. “The decision only affected this particular issue and our stores have continued to sell subsequent issues of the publication.’’
BJ’s gave no hint as to when the “foreseeable future’’ would end.
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