Media

Time fires back at Trump after ‘Person of the Year’ claim

by Max Greenwood - 11/24/17 9:09 PM ET

Time on Friday fired back at President Trump’s claim that he turned down the magazine’s “Person of the Year” honor after being told that he would only “probably” receive the designation.

“The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year,” the magazine wrote on its official Twitter account.

The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6.

— TIME (@TIME) November 24, 2017

The pushback came after Trump tweeted earlier Friday that he was contacted by Time and told that he would “probably” be selected as the publication’s “Person of the Year.” He said he turned down the distinction, because the magazine did not guarantee him the spot.

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!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 24, 2017

Time’s chief content officer, Alan Murray, also fired back at Trump from his own Twitter account.

Amazing. Not a speck of truth here—Trump tweets he ‘took a pass’ at being named TIME’s person of the year https://t.co/D6SJgyTpcY

— Alan Murray (@alansmurray) November 24, 2017

Total BS https://t.co/jrUPRbLCGQ

— Alan Murray (@alansmurray) November 24, 2017

{mosads}

Trump was named the Time “Person of the Year” in December 2016, after defeating Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the presidential election.

At the time of that selection, Time editor Nancy Gibbs said the then-president-elect was a polarizing figure that elicited opinions from just about everyone.

“For those who believe this is all for the better, Trump’s victory represents a long-overdue rebuke to an entrenched and arrogant governing class,” she said at the time.

“For those who see it as for the worse, the destruction extends to cherished norms of civility and discourse, a politics poisoned by vile streams of racism, sexism, nativism.”

Trump called the 2016 selection a “tremendous honor.” His tweet on Friday came on the heels of a Time reader’s choice poll that put singer Taylor Swift and San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz ahead of Trump for the “Person of the Year” distinction.

Tags Hillary Clinton Person of the Year TIME