Hy-Vee Passes on Rolling Stone Cover with Alleged Boston Marathon Bomber

Hy-Vee announced on Facebook last night that they will not carry the latest Rolling Stone cover with the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokar Tsarnaev.

To our customers:

Hy-Vee has received many questions and complaints from customers regarding the current issue of Rolling Stone magazine, which features a cover photo of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect. In general, the decision whether or not to carry a particular publication rests with each individual store; however, in response to feedback from our customers, we have asked all our stores to refrain from displaying or selling the issue of Rolling Stone in question.

CVS and Walgreens are not carrying the cover as well.  Typically the cover is reserved for famous musicians so this move is rather strange.  They explained their decision:

Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day.

The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens…

…People in Cambridge thought of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – “Jahar” to his friends – as a beautiful, tousle-haired boy with a gentle demeanor, soulful brown eyes and the kind of shy, laid-back manner that “made him that dude you could always just vibe with,” one friend says.

He had been a captain of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin wrestling team for two years and a promising student. He was also “just a normal American kid,” as his friends described him, who liked soccer, hip-hop, girls; obsessed over The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones; and smoked a copious amount of weed.

Apparently he wasn’t as normal as they thought.  By the way, “normal” kids don’t smoke “copious amount of weed.”  The Boston Mayor did not approve of their choice:

Certainly Rolling Stone is well within its rights to publish the cover.  Hy-Vee, Walgreens and others are well within their rights not to carry it.