Time 'Most Influential' List Includes Youngest Honoree

Millie Bobby Brown makes cut at age 14; also, Obama writes blurb for Parkland students
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 19, 2018 11:10 AM CDT
Time 'Most Influential' List Includes Youngest Honoree
Millie Bobby Brown of "Stranger Things" makes the most-influential list at age 14.   (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Time is out with its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and the unnumbered list includes President Trump, of course. Ted Cruz wrote the accompanying blurb, explaining that Trump "is a flash-bang grenade thrown into Washington by the forgotten men and women of America." Sure, he's ticked off the media and bulldozed right over "blinkered coastal elites," writes Cruz, and that's part of the plan. Trump "is doing what he was elected to do: disrupt the status quo. That scares the heck out of those who have controlled Washington for decades, but for millions of Americans, their confusion is great fun to watch." Other notable picks:

  • Obama on Parkland students: The Florida teens leading the charge on gun laws in the wake of the fatal shooting at their school make the list, with former President Obama writing that blurb. "By bearing witness to carnage, by asking tough questions and demanding real answers, the Parkland students are shaking us out of our complacency," writes Obama.

  • Youngest ever: Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown is the youngest-ever designee at 14. Her tribute is written by Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad, who sees Brown as an "extraordinary actor" despite her youth: "She somehow understands the human experience as if she has lived it for a thousand years. I'm proud to know her."
  • An NFL star: JJ Watt of the Houston Texans makes the cut for reasons that go beyond football. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner praises Watt's relief efforts after Hurricane Harvey and suggests Watt could be mayor someday.
  • Astrophysicist: ANSA notes that female astrophysicist Marica Branchesi of Italy is on the list. "It took Albert Einstein to predict the existence of gravitational waves—ripples in space-time that occur when objects like black holes collide," writes Jeffrey Kluger of Time. "It took Marica Branchesi to make sure we actually saw the evidence of such a crack-up."
  • Rihanna, by Adele: Celebs on the list include Cardi B, Tiffany Haddish, Issa Rae, Greta Gerwig, and, of course, Rihanna, notes Fader. The latter star is written up by none other than Adele ("the most gracious, loyal, and funny goofball of an icon"), while Steven Spielberg explains why fellow director Gerwig deserves the honor ("her elder becomes her student").
See the full list. (More Time magazine stories.)

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