The Controversy of Taylor Swift as Time Magazine 2023 Person of the Year

Taylor Swift was named TIME’s Magazine 2023 Person of the Year. The singer-songwriter is arguably one of the biggest pop stars today with an estimated 114 million albums sold. Her most recent “Eras Tour” is the highest-grossing tour of all time with at least $1 billion in profits, according to data from Pollstar. The decision to name Swift as TIME Magazine Person of the Year has sparked controversy due to the current state of Gaza.

Swift has a very large, passionate and loyal fan base that refer to themselves as “Swifties.” 20-year-old college student, Olivia McCurdy, attended the Eras Tour this summer.

“I have been a huge Taylor Swift fan since 2006, and I am proud of Taylor and her accomplishments this year,” McCurdy said. “I do think it is important to call out the fact that the President of Ukraine won Person of the Year last year and the Palestinian journalists, or anyone affected by the current genocide in Gaza, weren’t even considered for the title. I Understand that 2023 has been the year of Taylor Swift, but with how political TIME has been in the past, and what has been happening in Gaza, I am disappointed in the decision.”

Swift was the first person to be chosen because of her accomplishments in the arts and was the first woman to be selected twice for this title. She was named Person of the Year in 2017 for encouraging and inspiring women to speak out against sexual assault.

Every year since 1927, TIME has chosen a person, group or concept of the year. The editors decide based on who has been the most newsworthy, influential or made the most headlines for that particular year, good or bad. Title holders span from Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, Pope John XXIII in 1962, Adolf Hitler in 1938, the computer in 1982 and Joseph Stalin in 1939.

Finalists for the 2023 Person of the Year include Hollywood strikers, Xi Jinping, Sam Altman, Trump Prosecutors, Barbie and Vladimir Putin. Most commonly, the people who have been awarded this title in the past have been male political figures.

Many pro-Palestinian activists believe that this year’s title should have gone to on-the-ground journalists risking their lives to cover the war in Gaza since Oct. 7. There have been at least 64 journalists and media workers killed since the war began, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“The fact that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, leader of Ukraine, was last year’s winner because of his heroic work with helping Ukraine and that Taylor Swift was picked instead of press journalists in Gaza goes to show the erasure of Palestinians,” college student Catcher Stodola said. “The TIME person of the year should not be a billionaire with one of the largest carbon footprints in the world.”

Because of Swift’s immense fame, record-breaking sales and dedicated fanbase, she is inherently newsworthy. People are often fascinated by her love life and recently there has been a lot of buzz around her new relationship with NFL Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

“Taylor Swift winning person of the year makes a lot of sense to me,” college student Fiona Evans said. “With everything going on in the world it seems the mass media has shifted their focus on her and her new relationship that seems to take precedence over countless lives being lost around the world, specifically in Palestine. TIME magazine Person of the Year is meant to be someone who has done or had the most influence throughout the year. People around the world have been calling for a ceasefire, backing up those in Gaza who post daily updates about the genocide they’re experiencing and were witnessing.”