New York Times’ new boss mocked over sexy ‘French girls’ photo spread

Wordle. As the Times named Joseph Kahn its new executive editor Tuesday, succeeding former honcho Dean Baquet, the Old Gray Lady sanctioned a splashy portrait and profile of their nascent leader for New York Magazine — which captured the promotion in a disarmingly seductive way.The resulting, perhaps unintentional, erotica — featuring enough arched-back and come hither gazes to make pinup pioneers Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe proud — might just drive foot fetishists everywhere into a frenzy, as well.

The glowing feature ran alongside a photo spread of Kahn, 57, including a now widely-mocked image — on social media, of course — showing the well-dressed but shoeless Gray Lady boss in repose, sinuously stretched across a pricey Asian rug on the floor of his regal, mahogany-trimmed Fifth Avenue home office, beside his Chinese-lettered coffee mug and a morning read — the Times, of course.Needless to say, the stocking-feet portrait hyping the “new, old school” exec editor “relaxing with the paper,” as it’s captioned, was a baffling choice. Readers noted as much online — while drawing a number of comparisons to “Zoolander,” as well as the iconic image of “Seinfeld” character George Costanza posed alluringly in only socks and undies on a fainting couch.

pic.twitter.com/XeA7TVGcdZ“What was the goal here?” journalist Mairead Elordi asked about the photo in question, snapped by Chris Buck. Newtown shooting survivor and anti-violence advocate JT Lewis added to the sentiment, “I just don’t understand how this probably had to be approved by a slew of people and no one objected.” "Draw me like one of your French girls" https://t.co/GlYXlIjlgV“There has not been enough cringe produced in all of human history to properly react to