Ariana DeBose, Tim Cook and Megan Rapinoe among Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2022
Tim Cook and Megan Rapinoe named among TIME 100 most influential people of 2022 (Lionel Hahn and Jeff Kravitz/Getty Images)
Apple CEO Tim Cook and US footballer Megan Rapinoe have been named among several LGBTQ+ icons in Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people of 2022.
The list, which celebrates influential figures in the fields of the arts, politics, sports and activism, has praised several people within the LGBTQ+ community including musician Michelle Zauner and actress Ariana DeBose.
Rapinoe, who was named alongside teammates Becky Sauerbrunn and Alex Morgan, was praised for “dragging soccer to the right side of history” by tennis legend Billie Jean King thanks to their fight for pay equity in women’s football.
“It was the biggest win of their lives. And something tells me they are not done yet,” King said.
Playwright Michael R Jackson was honoured by Pose actor Billy Porter, who said his musical A Strange Loop gave him “hope for people like me whose stories have been undervalued for so long”.
Porter added: “To have a musical about a Black, overweight, out queer man is the change. And this year, it’s the one with the most Tony nominations.
“So Michael: thank you for being brave and bold, from the bottom of my heart.”
Introducing the 2022 #TIME100 featuring the 100 most influential people of the year https://t.co/Fp8wAZ2b86 pic.twitter.com/UjfS1oX2fs
— TIME (@TIME) May 23, 2022
Michelle Zauner, whose memoir Crying in H Mart spent 30 weeks on the New York Times‘ best-seller list, was honoured by SNL‘s Bowen Yang.
The bisexual musician’s work was described as “beautiful conduits for empathy”, while Yang praised her ability to “meld all her media into perfect concert with one another”.
“My first exposure to Michelle was seeing her dressed in a Korean hanbok, shredding guitar while sitting on an 18-wheeler. I immediately knew I would be obsessed with this person,” he added.
The Time magazine influential people list also includes homophobic dictator Vladimir Putin, who as leader of Russia has been rumoured to plot killing LGBTQ+ Ukrainians after invading the country, and who oversaw a brutal “gay purge” in Chechnya, a Russian republic.
Joe Rogan, a podcaster who has previously made headlines for vile transphobic jokes, was also named in the list.
“It’s complicated, of course, but there’s no question that Rogan’s success is pretty simple: the former Fear Factor host has become the nation’s earworm,” his write-up said.
