Vanity Fair staff erupt in fury over proposed Melania Trump cover with foul-mouthed meltdown
Raging Vanity Fair employees have vowed to quit their jobs and work at a supermarket if First Lady Melania Trump is granted a spot on its cover.
'I will walk out the motherf***ing door, and half my staff will follow me,' a mid–level editor told the Daily Mail on Monday, hours after Semafor reported the magazine's new global editorial director Mark Guiducci was trying to woo Melania to star on his cover.
'We are not going to normalize this despot and his wife; we're just not going to do it. We're going to stand for what's right,' the staffer continued.
'If I have to work bagging groceries at Trader Joe's, I'll do it. If [Guiducci] puts Melania on the cover, half of the editorial staff will walk out, I guarantee it.'
'It sickens me,' the staffer added. 'Even the idea of it.'
Melania was infamously excluded from the pages of fashion bible Vogue during her husband's first presidency and has yet to grace the magazine during his second.
Vogue gave Democrat first lady Michelle Obama three covers during her husband Barack's eight years in office.
First Lady Melania Trump has been on fewer magazine covers than her predecessors
Mark Guiducci took the helm of Vanity Fair earlier this year - and is interested in adding some right–wing figures to its pages
Jill Biden secured two covers during Joe Biden's single term in office, while Hillary Clinton was also featured on the front page in 1998, while wayward husband Bill was in the White House.
Melania has one Vogue cover to her name, from January 2005, after the magazine was given exclusive photos of her wedding day to Trump.
She also appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's Mexican edition in January 2017 and was photographed twirling a platinum necklace around a fork like spaghetti.
Melania is said to have been offered a Vogue photoshoot during Trump's first presidency but turned it down on being told she could not be guaranteed a cover.
But she has never received the traditional invitation that has been extended to first ladies over the last 27 years.
Jill Biden secured one of two Vogue covers during her time as first lady, the final one (pictured) in August 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris also secured a Vogue cover last fall as she faced off against Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election
Former First Lady Michelle Obama landed three Vogue covers during her husband's eight years in the White House. She's pictured here on her first cover in March 2009
Hillary Clinton landed a Vogue cover in 1998 while first lady. Her husband Bill's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky had made her a subject of media fascination
Melania Trump does have one American Vogue cover - but it was about her 2005 wedding to Donald Trump and came over a decade before his first presidency
Vanity Fair and Vogue are published by the same company - Conde Nast.
And the society magazine's new editor is a close confidant of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, suggesting a Vanity Fair appearance could finally pave the way for Melania to grace the cover of the world's top fashion magazine.
A second Vanity Fair journalist was more relaxed about the prospect of the Slovenian first lady on the magazine's cover and suggested angry colleagues would not follow through with their threats.
It's all talk,' that staffer told the Daily Mail. 'If they put her on the cover, people will protest and gripe about it, but I don't see anyone quitting such a prestigious job over that.'
'Honestly, there will be people who push back, but it's ultimately Mark's decision. He's the one who will sink or swim over that choice, not the rest of us.'
Both President and Melania Trump have publicly complained about her exclusion from the glossy magazine covers. Michelle Obama graced the cover of Vogue three times under the leadership of former boss Anna Wintour.
Melania is pictured on the cover of Vanity Fair Mexico in 2017. She could soon grace the front page of the far more influential US edition
'They are biased, and they have likes and dislikes, and it's so obvious,' Melania told Fox News in 2022 about her exclusion from Vogue. 'And I think American people and everyone see it, and I have much more important things to do — and I did in the White House — than being on the cover of Vogue.'
Guiducci took over Vanity Fair with the departure of former editor–in–chief Radhika Jones, who led the magazine as it lost web traffic and saw many staff departures following the reign of famed former VF boss Graydon Carter.
Both Carter and Jones took a staunch anti–Trump stance, but Guiducci is apparently looking to change the magazine's editorial policies following the 2024 presidential election.
He reportedly plans to include more right–wing figures in the magazine. The shift follows similar changes of other liberal outlets, including CNN and MSNBC, who are redesigning their brands with a move to the center after losing viewers.
