Does TIME magazine notify POTY honorees in advance ?

[Warm_blood]

I mean it’s probably safe to assume that this particular fellow is bullshitting us, but I’d just like to know if this is ever a thing?

[Thudlow_Boink]

Did they notify you in 2006?

[Warm_blood]

^^^ I had a lot of missed calls around that time, who knows.

[SpoilerVirgin]

Amusingly, Michael Moore said something very similar back in 2004, so it sounds like they do call people up for interviews/photos.

“I got a call right after the '04 election,” Moore said, “from an editor from Time Magazine. He said, ‘Time Magazine has picked you and Mel Gibson to be Time’s Person of the Year to put on the cover, Right and Left, Mel and Mike. The only thing you have to do is pose for a picture with each other. And do an interview together.’ I said ‘OK.’ They call Mel up, he agrees. They set the date and time in LA. I’m to fly there. He’s flying from Australia. Something happens when he gets home. Maybe he went to church for guidance and God spoke to him and said, ‘No way you’re doing a cover with Michael Moore.’” (laughter) “Next thing, Mel calls up and says, ‘I’m not doing it. I’ve thought it over and it is not the right thing to do.’ So they put Bush on the cover.”

[Peter_Morris]

Note that POTY isn’t an honour as such, it’s a mark of how many news stories that person has generated. Hitler was their man of the year in 1938, and they weren’t honouring him.

I doubt they informed him beforehand, either.

[SpoilerVirgin]

@Peter_Morris

Note that POTY isn’t an honour as such, it’s a mark of how many news stories that person has generated. Hitler was their man of the year in 1938, and they weren’t honouring him.

I doubt they informed him beforehand, either.

Wasn’t an honor. After 1979, when they named the Ayatollah Khomeini and had a horrible backlash, they decided not to name people who were generally despised in the U.S. They pretty much stated this explicitly when they named Giuliani rather than Osama bin Laden in 2001.

[Dobbs]

From http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/24/politics/president-donald-trump-time-magazine/index.html

“The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6,” a spokeswoman told CNN.

[Warm_blood]

@Peter_Morris

Note that POTY isn’t an honour as such, it’s a mark of how many news stories that person has generated. Hitler was their man of the year in 1938, and they weren’t honouring him.

I doubt they informed him beforehand, either.

I’m aware of that, i just used the term “honouree” because it sounded more neutral than “winner” to me.

@SpoilerVirgin

Wasn’t an honor. After 1979, when they named the Ayatollah Khomeini and had a horrible backlash, they decided not to name people who were generally despised in the U.S. They pretty much stated this explicitly when they named Giuliani rather than Osama bin Laden in 2001.

I wonder if they had a dilemma last year about how this policy clashed with their tradition of making the new US President POTY.

@Dobbs

From http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/24/politics/president-donald-trump-time-magazine/index.html

“The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6,” a spokeswoman told CNN.

Yeah, just as I figured.

[Happy_Lendervedder]

Well, to be honest, I sent an email telling them I wasn’t interested either. I don’t need that kind of hassle, and you can never be too sure you WON’T get this bullshit award.

[Dewey_Finn]

Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they were planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.)

[purplehearingaid]

@Dewey_Finn

Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they were planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.)

Hillary or Obama would annoy him a lot ! I would also love to see trump be annoy !

[Happy_Lendervedder]

@Dewey_Finn

Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they were planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.)

Oh man, I haven’t wanted Hillary to win something this bad since Nov. 8, 2016.

[nearwildheaven]

The 2014 “People of the year” were Ebola caregivers. A couple weeks earlier, six identified American survivors appeared on the Today show, and this video later showed up when the award was announced. I suspect that they knew this all along and were ordered to keep it under very tight wraps.

In other words, it depends.

[jasg]

@Dewey_Finn

Trump is such a narcissist that being POTUS and Leader of the Free World is not enough for him; he can’t imagine only “probably” being Time Person of the Year, (And even if they were planning to name him, I would hope they change course and name someone else. Preferably whoever would annoy him the most.)

I thought Angela was the new Leader of the Free World.

[Loach]

@SpoilerVirgin

Amusingly, Michael Moore said something very similar back in 2004, so it sounds like they do call people up for interviews/photos.

Something about that story seems very unlikely. I would hardly call Mel and Michael two sides to the same coin. Gibson is an entertainer who got in trouble for saying bad things while drunk. His political views aren’t at the forefront of either his fame or his infamy. It sounds like a stupid editorial choice if true.

[Starving_Artist]

I like how in this article from MSN a former editor of TIME Twitterchides Trump over the fake TIME covers Trump had put up in the clubs of his golf courses while at the same time explaining and seeming fine with the fact that TIME was fake offering the POTY slot to Trump to try to con him into a photo shoot.

Hate to tell you but that PROBABLY means you’re NOT Person of the Year. They just wanted a photo shoot. But I’m sure you still have that fake TIME cover somewhere in storage.

[Colibri]

@Warm_blood

I mean it’s probably safe to assume that this particular fellow is bullshitting us, but I’d just like to know if this is ever a thing?

Moderator Note

Since political jabs are not permitted in GQ, it’s not a good idea to start off an OP with one. A number of the following responses were out of line for GQ as well. Since the well has been poisoned from the start, I’m closing this.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator