According to tradition, Time Magazine will reveal its 2023 Person of the Year soon. On Monday’s Today Show, nine nominees were announced as having “had the most influence on the world throughout the previous twelve months.”.
There is much anticipation for the winner, from Mattel’s Barbie after its 2023 blockbuster cinematic adaptation to President of China Xi Jinping, the 2017 runner-up, returning to the list. Not everyone likes Time’s candidates.
Pakistani actor Osman Khalid Butt criticized the list on X (previously Twitter) and demanded the prize go to the rightful winners. “Time’s Person of the Year should have been Palestinian journalists, doctors, and civilians who’ve shown incredible courage, grace, and resilience in the face of a genocide,” the actor said.
Osman noted the 2022 award’s recipient, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and questioned why Ukraine was recognized without Palestine. If 2022 went to Zelensky and the’spirit of Ukraine’, what about Palestine?
In 2022, Zelenskyy inspired and gave optimism amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The president was praised for his crisis leadership. According to Time reporter Simon Shuster, “Zelensky’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious.”
After Israel launched an intensive military operation in Gaza and the West Bank after the October 7 Hamas attack, celebrities have spoken out for Palestine’s liberation. Osman has been a prominent opponent of Israel’s barbarism, using social media to promote Palestinian voices and refute Zionist myths.
Osman quoted an X post: “You say Zionist like it’s an insult!” “Because it is, you imbecile. This racist, colonialist campaign ethnically cleansed the Palestinians. Piers Morgan’s comment, “Israel deliberately bombing Gaza’s largest refugee camp, even if a Hamas commander was there, is outrageous and indefensible,” prompted Osman to say, “Welcome to the right side of history.”
