Naomi Hurls Figurative Phone at Vogue

BLACKTALKIN' Campbell(Photo: Getty Images)

Tyra Banks can squawk "fierce" as much as she wants to young black models, but the chances that they'll actually make it in the biz are still seriously slim. And it's not just because reality TV models are sub-par. According to BlackBerry-throwing fashion biz veteran Naomi Campbell, the odds are still hugely stacked against black models. In an <a href="http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/fashion/story/0,,2153637,00.html

" target="_blank">interview this week, Campbell fires a shot across Vogue's bow, blaming the magazine and modeling agencies for shortchanging non-white models, namely herself.

"Black models are being sidelined by the major modeling agencies," Campbell says. "Even myself, I get a raw deal from my own country in England ... I hardly come on the front pages of Vogue magazine. Only white models, some of whom are not as prominent as I am, are put on splash pages. I don't want to quit modeling until I find that black models get equal prominence and recognition by the world media."

Indeed, this month's British Vogue cover features blonde Russian waifette Sasha Pivovarova on its cover, while American Vogue went with blonde "style icon" Sienna Miller for its weighty September tome.

Racism? Or just fear in editors hearts that a cover shoot with the notorious diva Campbell may not be worth braving projectile BlackBerries for?