Lil Kim’s heavily edited Ebony cover befuddles fans: ‘I thought it was AI’
Fans are expressing confusion over Lil Kim’s new Ebony cover, which appears to be heavily edited.
On the cover — which is one of five commemorating 50 years of hip-hop — the “Crush on You” rapper sits down while dressed in a pink silk gown.
Kim, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, wears a gold crown on her head and matching jewelry across her knuckles on both hands.
After an image of the special edition cover was shared on Twitter Friday, several social media users questioned why the 49-year-old Grammy winner’s face and body were so Photoshopped.
“This retouch is so bad, I thought it was AI. Somebody pls tell me it is. QUICKLY,” tweeted one fan.
“The entire staff deserves JAIL,” added another.
“Now Ebony knows they need their asses whooped. Why they got Kimberly looking like AI?” wrote a third befuddled user.
“whoever edited this was running that facetune app like the navy,” joked a fourth fan.
Twitter users also compared Kim’s picture to a “porcelain doll” and even North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The emcee’s ever-changing appearance has been a topic of discussion for years.
In a 2005 interview with Angie Martinez, Kim got candid about going under the knife after being physically abused by her ex-boyfriend.
“I have had a black eye, bloody lips, bruised nose. I came out of the hospital from getting my nose done, and he broke my s–t again,” she said. “I have had to have MRIs because he beat me up so bad I couldn’t even move.”
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The “Lady Marmalade” performer said she had to wear a “big cast” on her face due to her nose being broken.
“The doctor had to fix my nose [because] it was almost shattered,” she added.
Kim also opened up about her different surgeries while explaining that she suffers from low self-esteem.
“I have low self-esteem, and I always have,” she said in a 2000 interview with Newsweek. “Guys always cheated on me with women who were European-looking. You know, the long-hair type.
“Really beautiful women that left me thinking, ‘How I can I compete with that?’ Being a regular black girl wasn’t good enough.”
As for her breast implants, Kim said it was “the most pain” she has ever been in in her life.
“But people made such a big deal about it. White women get them every day. It was to make me look the way I wanted to look. It’s my body,” she declared.
