Outrage over Rolling Stone cover of Boston bomb suspect

NEW YORK — Rock magazine Rolling Stone’s cover story on the Boston Marathon bombing suspect has generated controversy even before it hits stores, with critics saying the photo glamorises an accused killer and some retailers saying they will not carry the issue.

The photo of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appears in the magazine’s August issue, which hits shelves today. It depicts Tsarnaev with long, shaggy hair, sporting a light beard and moustache, over the headline: “The bomber: How a popular, promising student was failed by his family, fell into radical Islam and became a monster”.

Tsarnaev, 19, looks thinner and younger in the photo than when he appeared last week in a Boston federal court over charges related to the bombing, which carry the threat of execution.

He is the survivor of a pair of brothers accused of carrying out the attack that killed three people and injured more than 260 at the Boston Marathon on April 15.

Public outrage was swift, including tough words from the Boston Mayor, bombing survivors and retailers.

Mayor Thomas Menino wrote a letter to publisher Jann Wenner saying it supports the “terrible message that destruction gains fame for killers and their ‘causes’.”

Survivor James Costello, 30, who needed pig skin grafts on most of his right arm and right leg after the bombing, also criticised the magazine.

“I think whoever wrote the article should have their legs blown off by someone ... and then see who they would choose to put on the cover,” he said.

At least five retailers have said they would not sell the issue. Agencies