On today's episode of That's So Tone Deaf!, meet Norbert Baksa, a photographer from Budapest who decided the refugee crisis in Hungary would make an excellent backdrop for his "migrant chic" fashion shoot.
Oddly enough, Baksa wasn't able to find any refugees dripping in Prada or schlepping Louis Vuitton trunks, so he instead had to photograph a model wearing a headscarf and unbuttoned shirt taking a selfie with her Chanel-emblazoned phone as she leaned against a barbed wire fence. After Baksa released 13 photos from his "Der Migrant" shoot online earlier this week, he found himself on the receiving end of a backlash that was swift and fierce, The New York Times reports. "I hoped people would realize that the situation is very complex and see that they are taking stands based on partial or biased information," Baksa, whose work has appeared in Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Playboy, wrote on his website. "I do not understand how people can take a clear stand (pro or con) while we are flooded with contradictory information through the media, so no one has extensive knowledge of the situation as a whole."
Because his hole just wasn't deep enough, Baksa continued: "This is exactly what we wanted to picture: You see a suffering woman, who is also beautiful and despite her situation, has some high quality pieces of outfit and a smartphone." Hungary has been less than hospitable to refugees fleeing danger in countries like Syria and Iraq, and on Twitter, Baksa said the photos "are reproductions of reports in Hungarian media. Some show refugees fleeing for life, others show aggressive migrants or terrorists." Maybe for his next shoot he'll be inspired by the refugees crossing the Mediterranean Sea; flimsy rubber boats and the smell of fear are just so chic. Catherine Garcia
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Codeword: August 23, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
-
Combs convicted on 2 of 5 charges, denied bailSpeed Read Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted of the more serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking
-
Sniper kills 2 Idaho firefighters in ambushSpeed Read A man started a wildfire, then fired a rifle at first responders when they arrived
-
Weinstein convicted of sex crime in retrialSpeed Read The New York jury delivered a mixed and partial verdict at the disgraced Hollywood producer's retrial
-
'King of the Hill' actor shot dead outside homespeed read Jonathan Joss was fatally shot by a neighbor who was 'yelling violent homophobic slurs,' says his husband
-
DOJ, Boulder police outline attacker's confessionspeed read Mohamed Sabry Soliman planned the attack for a year and 'wanted them all to die'
-
Assailant burns Jewish pedestrians in Boulderspeed read Eight people from the Jewish group were hospitalized after a man threw Molotov cocktails in a 'targeted act of violence'
-
Driver rams van into crowd at Liverpool FC paradespeed read 27 people were hospitalized following the attack
