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We’ve put together a collection of magazine covers that have stirred up controversy through the years.

These covers can serve as object lessons for what to do and what not to do both with design and editorial.

While some controversial covers have worked and sold more magazines, or won awards for the editors who made the decision to go to press with them, others were embarrassments that the publication had to either apologize for, or fire an editor over.

Here are some of the most controversial magazine covers of all time. Feel free to suggest other covers that you think should be part of this collection.

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(CNN) — Comic actor Bernie Mac died early Saturday of complications from pneumonia, according to a family member and his publicist. He was 50.

He had been hospitalized in Chicago, Illinois, for more than a week with the lung infection.

Danica Smith, the comedian’s publicist, had said Thursday that Mac’s condition was “stable,” The Associated Press reported.

“When I got the call this morning, it was just devastating news,” said Chicago Sun-Times columnist Stella Foster. “Let’s face it: Bernie Mac was one of a kind. He was the best of the best in terms of giving you a good laugh.”

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George Carlin, an extraordinary standup comedian whose dark social satire won him multigenerational popularity and a starring role in the most famous broadcast obscenity case of modern times, died Sunday of heart failure in Los Angeles. He was 71.

The Manhattan-born comedian, who always said his often-cynical satire simply reflected his real-life disdain for mankind’s greed, stupidity and inconsideration, had a history of heart problems. He also did a stint in rehab in 2003 for drug dependency.

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OCALA, Fla. — A federal judge on Thursday sentenced the actor Wesley Snipes to three years in prison for willfully failing to file tax returns.

Mr. Snipes, who was convicted in February, received one year for each count, to be served consecutively, and an additional year of probation. The sentence was handed down by Judge William Terrell Hodges of Federal District Court.

Mr. Snipes, who apologized for his actions before the sentence was announced, showed no immediate reaction to the verdict.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Thanks to Bob Dylan, rock ‘n’ roll has finally broken through the Pulitzer wall.

Dylan, the most acclaimed and influential songwriter of the past half century, who more than anyone brought rock from the streets to the lecture hall, received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, cited for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.”

It was the first time Pulitzer judges, who have long favored classical music, and, more recently, jazz, awarded an art form once dismissed as barbaric, even subversive.

“I am in disbelief,” Dylan fan and fellow Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz said of Dylan’s award.

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Charlton Heston, who appeared in some 100 films in his 60-year acting career but who is remembered chiefly for his monumental, jut-jawed portrayals of Moses, Ben-Hur and Michelangelo, died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 83.

His death was confirmed by a spokesman for the family, Bill Powers, who declined to discuss the cause. In August 2002, Mr. Heston announced that he had been diagnosed with neurological symptoms “consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.”

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Heath Ledger‘s death on Jan. 22 was due to an accidental mixture of prescription drugs, New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner has concluded.

“Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Diazepam, Temazepam, Alprazolam, and Doxylamine,” said an announcement released Wednesday morning by office spokeswoman Ellen Borakove.

“We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications,” the two-paragraph statement said in its entirety.

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Actor Kiefer Sutherland was released on Monday from a Southern California jail, where he served 48 days for drunken driving and violating probation.

The 41-year-old actor left the Glendale City Jail shortly after midnight and was a model inmate, Glendale Police Officer John Balian said.

“He never gave us any problems, never complained about anything,” Balian said, adding that Sutherland spent most of his time on laundry duty.

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Motorcycle stuntman Robert “Evel Knievel” died in Florida Friday at the age of 69.

Born in Butte, Montana, Oct. 17, 1938, Knievel made a name for himself for his daredevil feats, jumping rows of vehicles, natural chasms and other obstacles. He claimed to have broken every bone in his body at least twice.

The death was reported by Butte architect and Knievel’s graphic design artist Bob Corbett, who said Knievel’s wife, Krystal Kennedy, rushed him to the hospital earlier today.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — A judge set bail Wednesday at $125,000 for O.J. Simpson in connection with the armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors at a Las Vegas hotel. His attorney later said he expected the former football star to be released within hours and return to Florida.

Simpson, standing in court in a blue jail uniform and handcuffs, furrowed his brow as the judge read the list of charges against him.

He answered quietly in a hoarse voice and nodded as Justice of the Peace Joe Bonaventure Jr. laid out restrictions for his release, including surrendering his passport to his attorney and having no contact with co-defendants or potential witnesses.

Simpson did not enter a plea.

Unlike his arraignment over a decade ago in the 1994 killings of his ex-wife and her friend Ron Goldman, when Simpson declared he was “absolutely 100 percent not guilty,” he was subdued throughout the proceeding Wednesday.

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LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) — Las Vegas police arrested O.J. Simpson on Sunday amid an investigation into an alleged armed robbery at a hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, a source close to the investigation said.
The charges he faces are unclear.

Simpson was arrested at his room in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, the source said.

On Saturday, Las Vegas police arrested Walter Alexander and seized two guns in connection with the alleged armed robbery, the source said.

“I don’t know why they arrested him,” Simpson said Sunday. “I’ve stayed in contact with the police and the truth will come out.”

Simpson had already been questioned during the investigation into several items of sports memorabilia that were taken from collectors at a room in the Palace Station Hotel and Casino. Simpson has said the items belonged to him.

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Paris Hilton was freed from jail last night, and once again it was the job of Steve Whitmore, the Los Angeles sheriff’s spokesman, to break the news.

“She fulfilled her debt. She was obviously in good spirits. She thanked people as she left,” he said. (Last time she was released, he said something similar: “She has fulfilled her obligation. She has paid her debt to society.”)

And once again it was the job the media to apply a full-court press in covering the 26-year-old woman who violated probation relating to an alcohol charge (presiding over a head-on collision between a celebrity-obsessed culture and the more serious issue of the equal application of justice.)

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A judge today ordered Paris Hilton back to jail, reversing a decision by the Los Angeles County sheriff to release her and keep her under house arrest after she had served only three days of a 45-day sentence.

Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer said that Ms. Hilton will have to serve the entire sentence he had handed down last month for repeatedly violating the terms of her probation on alcohol-related reckless driving charges stemming from an incident last year.

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LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Paris Hilton was let out of jail Thursday morning, days after she began serving what was to have been a 45-day sentence for violating probation, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Hilton must wear a monitoring bracelet and remain at her home for another 40 days, said sheriff’s department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Medical considerations “played a part” in the decision to offer Hilton home confinement for the remainder of her sentence, Whitmore said.

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Los Angeles (eCanadanow) – American author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., best known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, has died at age 84.After a fall in his Manhattan, New York home, he suffered brain injuries and died on Wednesday from complications related to those injuries.

Some Vonneguts most famous works include Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat’s Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). He achieved cult-like status among American college students in the 1960s and 70s.