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Time magazine reveals its 2022 Person of the Year; more: Buzz

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the spirit of Ukraine were named 2022's Time Person of the Year.
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Time magazine reveals its 2022 Person of the Year

The 2022 Time Person of the Year is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the spirit of Ukraine. The publication revealed its cover Wednesday on NBC’s “Today” show, saluting the 44-year-old leader as a symbol of democracy and defiance amid his country’s war with Russia.

“Zelenskyy’s success as a wartime leader has relied on the fact that courage is contagious. It spread through Ukraine’s political leadership in the first days of the invasion, as everyone realized the President had stuck around,” Time reporter Simon Shuster wrote.

Zelenskyy, previously an actor and a comedian, refused to leave Kyiv when Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24. He inspired Ukrainians to take up arms in the fight against Russia.

“Zelenskyy gives me confidence,” a 35-year-old woman identified as Natasha in Ukraine told the “Today” show. “For me, Zelenskyy is the real fighter of democracy worldwide and for the peaceful future of our children and our world.”

Time has named a “Person of the Year” for nearly 100 years, recognizing an individual or group that has had “the greatest influence on the events of the year—for better or worse.” A wide range of figures have been selected, including Adolf Hitler, John F. Kennedy, The Computer, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Martin Luther King Jr. and Pope Francis; recent selections include the #MeToo movement in 2017, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris together in 2020, and billionaire Elon Musk last year.

The publication said its editors chose Zelenskyy out of a shortlist of finalists that included Musk, Chinese President Xi Jinping, the U.S. Supreme Court, Rep. Liz Cheney, MacKenzie Scott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, protesters in Iran, gun safety advocates and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen.

The magazine also named K-pop group Blackpink as its 2022 Entertainer of the Year and New York Yankees star Aaron Judge as its 2022 Athlete of the Year.

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