President Trump said he turned down Time magazine after being told there were conditions for being named its next Person of the Year, in turn prompting the publication to publicly refute the president’s claim Friday evening.
“Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named ’Man (Person) of the Year,’ like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!” Mr. Trump tweeted Friday afternoon, November 24.
“The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year,” Time responded from its own Twitter account nearly three hours later. “TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6,” the tweet said.
Current and former Time employees have since sided against the president and called into question his recollection of events.
“Amazing. Not a speck of truth here—Trump tweets he ’took a pass’ at being named TIME’s person of the year,” tweeted Alan Murray, the magazine’s chief content officer.
“Hate to tell you but that probably means you’re not Person of the Year. They just wanted a photo shoot,” added former Time editor Richard Stengel.
Time began naming a “Man of the Year” in 1927, and the magazine changed the name of the award to “Person of the Year” in 1999.
The title isn’t an honorific, but rather recognizes the individual “who has had the most influence over the news in the last 12 months,” according to Time.
Past recipients run the gamut from Mahatma Gandhi to Adolf Hitler, including every U.S. president since 1927 except for Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover and Gerald Ford.
Mr. Trump was named Time’s Person of the Year in December 2016 after defeating Democratic rival Hillary Clinton a month earlier for the presidency.
“It means a lot,” Mr. Trump told NBC News at the time, “especially me growing up reading Time magazine. And it’s a very important magazine, and I’ve been lucky enough to be on the cover many times this year — and last year. But I consider this a very, very great honor.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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