TIME Magazine released its annual TIME 100 list on Thursday, naming their selections for the most influential pioneers, artists, leaders, titans and icons of our generation. It's a chance to appreciate the public figures, beloved or controversial, who are shaping today's news and culture -- but half the fun is seeing which celebrities TIME chose to write about its choices.
How we chose the 2017 TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people https://t.co/HGfAueRFYt
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Most celebrity essays are obvious ones, like former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger writing about prize fighter Conor McGregor, or Brie Larson honoring her fellow Oscar winner Emma Stone. But every year, we get a few pairings that are weird, awkward or unintentionally hilarious.
Here are a few of our favorites for 2017:
Riz Ahmed by Lin-Manuel Miranda
It's great to see a gifted and diverse actor like "Rogue One's" Riz Ahmed make not just the Time 100 list, but one of the five featured covers. And Lin-Manuel Miranda has the same kind of super-enthusiastic creativity and fan appeal, so it's only natural that he should be the one to pen the tribute to Ahmed's career.
The really fun part is how Miranda seems to be trying to burst into rap even when he's writing for a stodgy publication like TIME. "Look! We're alive at the same time as Riz Ahmed! Look!" Calm down there, Hamilton.
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View StoryLeslie Jones by Russell Crowe
Who doesn't love SNL's Leslie Jones? Okay, all those dudes who refused to watch the new "Ghostbusters" movie don't love Leslie Jones, but Russell Crowe totally does. You can tell by all the, uh, cats he compares her to?
"She's a tiger," he begins. "She's a lioness. She's a pussycat." Did she roar at him and then curl up in his lap when he was hosting SNL last year or something?
Jared Kushner by Henry Kissinger
Transitioning the presidency is a hard job, a gig currently held by Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger barely knows the guy and has "sporadically exchanged views" with him, but he can confirm that Kushner does in fact know the president, has an education and has been inside a business. All of these things will probably help Kushner do his job. At least that's how Kissinger's brief, dry write-up sounds if you're a jerk on the internet with a sarcastic sense of humor.
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View StoryEd Sheeran by Taylor Swift
OMG GUYS LOOK LOOK IT'S TAYLOR SWIFT. WE HAVEN'T HEARD FROM HER IN AGES, WHERE HAS SHE BEEN?! WHEN IS THE ALBUM COMING OUT? IS SHE WRITING A SONG ABOUT HER FEUD WITH KIM AND KANYE AGAIN? WHAT ABOUT TOM HIDDLESTON? DID YOU KNOW SHE HAS TEN GRAMMYS?
Oh, and she says she always believed in her good friend Ed Sheeran, because he's "less of a boy and more of a tank." That's sweet.
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View StoryDemi Lovato by Arianna Huffington
If there's one person we can totally imagine rocking out to Demi Lovato's power anthem "Confident," it's Arianna Huffington. Just picture the "Huffington Post" founder reading from her TIME essay in her heavy Greek accent, "Demi is using her hard-won wisdom to benefit others," while in the background Lovato's music video shows her striding around in tight leather outfits and punching Michelle Rodriguez in the face.
It does make sense if you think about it - Huffington and Lovato are both highly ambitious women who have devoted themselves to philanthropy and social issues. But that doesn't make the visual any less fun.
