TIME decided to boost Elon Musk's ego more by naming him its 2021 Person Of The Year
Bart Harley Jarvis was unavailable, so TIME picked Elon Musk
TIME might as well have picked Bart Harley Jarvis as their 2021 Person Of The Year, since the outlet went with “aggressive baby” Elon Musk. The richest man in the world did not actually go to space like the other rich guys this year, but TIME still felt he was deserving of the title anyway.
As much as it pains to say it, the decision might’ve paid off just to get that last sentence in the lede for the cover story:
The richest man in the world does not own a house and has recently been selling off his fortune. He tosses satellites into orbit and harnesses the sun; he drives a car he created that uses no gas and barely needs a driver. With a flick of his finger, the stock market soars or swoons. An army of devotees hangs on his every utterance. He dreams of Mars as he bestrides Earth, square-jawed and indomitable. Lately, Elon Musk also likes to live-tweet his poops.
Musk is perhaps the only person to have graced the cover of TIME who has tweeted about his poops—and has that habit be one of the least unsettling things about him. At least the profile acknowledges that “former associates have described Musk as petty, cruel and petulant, particularly when frustrated or challenged.”
There’s even a mention of the song Grimes wrote about dumping Musk, “Player Of Games.” But X Æ A-Xii’s dad is still trying to convince everyone that everything’s fine, even though Grimes posed for pictures reading The Communist Manifesto right after breaking things off with the world’s biggest capitalist.
“Grimes and I are, I’d say, probably semi-separated. We weren’t seeing each other that much, and I think this is to some degree a long-term thing, because what she needs to do is mostly in L.A. or touring, and my work is mostly in remote locations like this,” he tells TIME.
Somehow, of course, Musk isn’t the most controversial pick the magazine’s chosen for Person Of The Year.
Donald Trump was the Person Of The Year in 2016 when he won the presidential election, making it a bleak reminder that the nation was stuck with him. There have also been people just as abhorrent as Trump to get the coveted title, like Rudy Giuliani in 2001, and Vladimir Putin in 2007.