Church has a beef with Mormon beefcake calendar [Chad Hardy]

Los Angeles Times ^ | April 28, 2009 | Ashley Powers

[delacoert]

Reporting from Las Vegas -- A male model wearing a kilt of black vinyl strips, a red belt with a gold buckle and little else is flexing his muscles amid fake oil derricks and Roman columns in a photo studio. All chiseled pectorals and tanned thighs, he is playing Captain Moroni, a battlefield hero in the Book of Mormon who rallied troops with the Title of Liberty banner.

...

Hardy was emboldened. The 2009 calendar cover resembles a painting of the second coming of Christ. The shirtless model wears a rose-colored sash and white loincloth and is outlined in a celestial glow. Inside, Mr. September stands in front of a chalkboard with a diagram of the Mormon Plan of Salvation. Amid arrows and squiggles, the word "judgment" is clearly visible.

...

[delacoert]

Hardy says he is considering legal action against the university. Meanwhile, he has forged ahead with the 2010 calendar. None of his models has faced excommunication, he said. But this time, only a handful of men wanted to pose.

[reaganaut]

LOL. The guy has guts, I will give him that. Of course, he has nothing left to lose.

My SIL has the first calendar, I can’t stand to look at it. Too Mormon for me.

[Tennessee Nana]

Placemark

[reaganaut]

The 2009 calendar cover resembles a painting of the second coming of Christ. The shirtless model wears a rose-colored sash and white loincloth and is outlined in a celestial glow

[MHGinTN]

The Mormon Church has every right to be outraged by this person's soft porn approach to selling ... what? What is this freak trying to sell? ... Calenders, using male semi-nudity and the accouterments of Mormonism. Disgusting

[reaganaut]

I find it offensive as well. Which is why I posted the cover. I object to Jesus being portrayed as a “beefcake”.

The first calendar was RM’s and a little more tasteful. IIRC the proceeds were to go to LDS missionary fund. Not that that is an excuse.

This one is just a slam and meant to offend.

[Tennessee Nana]

Maybe if they had not yanked his diploma, he might have just gone away...

I do think they should have let him keep it..

They could have brought a law suit against him of some kind ..

and had a judge order him to cease and desist...

The publicity made him famous and his calendars sought after ..

and he had “reason” to seek revenge ...

He may have just stopped with the 1st calendar...

but then again...

[MHGinTN]

The one making this calender has emotional problems, IMHO. Perhaps he has conflicting fragments of his personality. But regardless, his calenders are an offense to Mormons and to Christ. Interesting don’tchaknow.

[delacoert]

"his calenders are an offense to Mormons and to Christ. Interesting don’tchaknow."

Was/is this statue offensive to you or Mormons so Christ?

[MHGinTN]

First, the statue of 'Dah veed' is not offensive to me because it is a work of 'art' from a culture long gone. The artist made a point of including the male genetalia as a focal point when he could as easily have placed a simple drape in the sculpting process. [If you know the statue, you know an averaged height person would have been eyes about navel high when the statue would be standing on the same surface as a viewer, but pedestaled the genetalia are at eye height.] Are you familiar enough with the artist's history to know why he made a point of this sort of blatant representation on a statue depicting David who was a King of Israel? And are you familiar with the Hebrew admonitions not to 'uncover the nakedness'?

Second, please interpret the sentence which follows and the use of 'so' in that sentence ... as written, it has no meaning or a tortured meaning which only you could explain: 'Was/is this statue offensive to you or Mormons so Christ?'

[Elsie]

The Mormon Church has every right to be outraged by this person's soft porn approach to selling ... what? What is this freak trying to sell? ... Calenders, using male semi-nudity and the accouterments of Mormonism. Disgusting

AMEN!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rameumptom]

I saw another article which mentioned 2 of the models for the first calendar self identified as gay. For this next version more of the male models are openly gay. Hardy is an anti prop-8 activist and is trying to force the gay issue with the church. In essense Hardy is attempting to do the media version of Gen 19:5 “And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”

[delacoert]

No.
Yes.
or