Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) weighed in on Rolling Stone's decision to place Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on its magazine cover, disagreeing with the publication's move.
"I thought it was stupid, and I thought it was inappropriate," said McCain in a Sunday appearance on CNN's "State Of The Union."
Rolling Stone's editors defended the Aug. 1 cover, which depicts Tsarnaev's story as one of how a "bright kid with a charming future became a monster," according to a preview on the magazine's website.
"The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens," Rolling Stone said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
Several businesses did not see things the same way on Thursday, with CVS, Tedeschi Foods, Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Kmart among the companies deciding not to sell the magazine.
On that front, McCain took a different stance, saying it was not up to him to tell Rolling Stone to remove the issue from stores.
“But for me to tell them to pull their magazine from the bookshelves, at newsstands, it's not up to me to do that. I think most Americans surrender to judgment on that,” he told CNN on Sunday.
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