Time magazine released its 10 finalists for 2017’s Person of the Year on Monday’s episode of Today, putting political leaders Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins on the list.
The magazine announced it kept a wide variety of individuals in mind. On the list were the Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, The Dreamers (thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents as children), Jenkins, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, NFL free agent Colin Kaepernick, the #MeToo movement, FBI director Robert Mueller, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Donald Trump, and President of China Xi Jinping.
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Time‘s 2017 Person of the Year will be unveiled on Wednesday during the 7 a.m. hour of Today. Last year’s Person of the Year was Donald Trump after he won the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s is not the only controversial face on the list; Kaepernick won the GQ Citizen of the Year after starting the movement to protest racial inequality and police brutality during the national anthem before NFL games.
Time writes that Kim Jong Un’s “renewed threat of nuclear war” earned him a spot on the list, as did China’s Xi Jingping’s “new authority” as the country’s most powerful leader in decades.
The magazine recognized Mueller’s work in investigating the potential involvement of the Trump campaign in Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. It also recognized the social media #MeToo movement for fueling a moment of reckoning about the treatment of women in the workplace.
Jenkins’ accomplishment of becoming the first woman to direct a film that made more than $100 million in its opening weekend was mentioned on the list, as was Bezos’ ever-expanding empire as the richest man in the world.
Time recognized Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s recent crackdown on businessmen and members of the royal family accused of corruption, and gave faces to the thousands of Dreamers who risk “uncertain futures” if the Trump Administration follows through on plans to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Time has awarded Person of the Year since 1927, recognizing the person or group of people who most influenced the news during the past year, for better or for worse.
