15 Controversial Charlie Hebdo Covers Translated

 After Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, Charlie Hebdo published this cover, which reads, “Michael Jackson, White at Last.”

 Charlie Hebdo killed two birds with one stone in this 2006 cover, which uses an image of Jesus on the cross to point out the absurdity of reality television. On the cover, Jesus says, “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here!” making references to an actual reality tv show.

 Back in 2012 when Mitt Romney and Barack Obama were fighting for the presidency, Charlie Hebdo released this controversial cartoon. Here a whiter-than-white Romney proclaims, “For a White House that’s really white!” To the right, French leaders look upon him, holding a sign that reads “No immigrants can vote.”

 This controversial Charlie Hebdo cover criticizes French President François Hollande. Titled “Zero growth,” the comic shows Hollande relaxing on the beach as the rest of the people drown beneath his gaze. The accompanying text reads, “We don’t move.”

 This controversial Charlie Hebdo cover from 2013 reads, “The Koran is shit – It does not stop bullets.” Some religious groups found the comic so offensive that French Islamists actually sued the magazine for blasphemy.

 Published in October 2014, this controversial Charlie Hebdo cover depicts an ISIS man moments before he beheads Muhammad. In the comic, Muhammad says, “I am the prophet, you idiot,” to which the ISIS insurgent exclaims, “Shut your face, infidel.” The graphic cover follows the ISIS beheadings of three Americans.

 This controversial Charlie Hebdo cover from 2010 shows the Pope advising a bishop to “Go into movies, like Polanski.” French (by naturalization) director Roman Polanski raped a 13-year-old girl in 1977, then fled to France to avoid being sentenced in the United States. The satirical paper easily connected Polanski’s reputation with the frequent accusations of Catholic priests molesting young boys.

 John Galliano’s Mannequin (2011)

Dior designer John Galliano consumed the buzz at prêt-a-porter fashion week in Paris in February after he screamed anti-Semitic insults during a bar fight in Paris. (He was eventually convicted by a French court.) Charlie Hebdo jumped at the chance to combine two of its longstanding targets, celebrities and French right-wingers. The cover showed Marine Le Pen, the daughter of the far-right politician who founded France’s National Front party, as a mannequin in Galliano’s fashion house. Le Pen is currently challenging President Nicolas Sarkozy from the right in the 2012 presidential election.

‘DSK for President!’ (2011)

The news that Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been arrested in New York in May on charges of sexual harassment caused a tsunami in French politics. The director of the International Monetary Fund had been a leading candidate for the French presidency in 2012, but his tarnished reputation meant the Socialist Party would face an internal war to find a new candidate. In July, Charlie Hebdo celebrated the chaos with this cover, showing DSK parading through a confetti-like shower of condoms.

 Look, No Hands!’ (2001)

Leave it to Charlie Hebdo to dare to run a humorous take on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks just weeks after the fact. The magazine’s Nov. 14, 2001, issue showed Osama bin Laden joking about pulling off the attacks on New York with “no hands.”

 The Pope Goes Too Far’ (2010)

This cover, one of many mocking the Catholic Church, depicted Pope Benedict XVI holding a Durex condom aloft, declaring “This is my body!”—a line from the Christian eucharist that refers to Christ’s crucifixion. The cover came after a series of confusing statements by the pope about the rare instances in which the church approves of condom use to prevent disease.

 ‘Vote Asshole’ (1971)

Just three years after the student riots of 1968, French cartoonist Georges Wolinski drew the cover cartoon with a caption that captured Charlie Hebdo’s withering antigovernment bent and became an instant classic: “Vote asshole … you don’t have a choice.”

 ‘I Slept With My Dad to Get Ahead!’ (2009)

Religion is far from the magazine’s only punching bag: French politicians provide lots of material as well. This cover mocked the nepotism of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who tried to get his 23-year-old son, then a first-year law student, a job running Paris’s most important financial district.

 Charlie Hebdo Must Be Veiled!’ (2007)

Lest you think Charlie Hebdo reserves all its vicious covers for Muslims, be assured it’s an equal-opportunity offender. Before its editor was acquitted of charges from the Muhammad cartoons, Charlie Hebdo published a special issue of cartoons with a cover depicting a Jew, the pope, and an Islamic fundamentalist shouting, “Charlie Hebdo must be veiled!”

‘Muhammad Overwhelmed’ (2006)

Arguably Charlie Hebdo’s most controversial cover, the Feb. 9, 2006, issue featured a weeping Muhammad with the headline, “Muhammad Overwhelmed by Fundamentalists.” (In the dialogue bubble, he’s saying, “It’s hard being loved by assholes.”) But the real offense was what was inside: the 12 cartoons originally published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that caricatured Islam’s holiest prophet.