Backlash Emerges To Elon Musk's Time Person Of The Year Cover

Time magazine’s designation of Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk as its 2021 Person of the Year has created a pushback on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) from detractors who feel the South African-born entrepreneur was undeserving of the praise.

What Happened: In choosing Musk, Time’s editors hailed him as “the man who aspires to save our planet and get us a new one to inhabit: clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) begged to differ, tweeting, “Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.”

Warren’s sentiments were shared by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who tweeted, “It’s *TIME* for Elon Musk to pay his fair share in taxes.”

Robert Reich, who served as labor secretary in the Clinton administration, called attention to Musk’s contentious relations with organized labor as a reason for disqualification.

“Elon Musk's @TIME debut is a good time to remind you that he illegally threatened to take away stock options if employees unionized, and has had 43 workers' rights violations filed against his company since 2010,” tweeted Reich.

After the news of Musk’s designation emerged, a Twitter trend percolated to replace Musk as Person of the Year with country music star Dolly Parton because of her philanthropic generosity in funding the research that resulted in Moderna’s (NASDAQ:MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine.

"Dolly Parton deserved to be 'Person of the Year.' Retweet if you agree!" tweeted Florida-based community organizer Mike Rivero, who generated nearly 10,000 retweets for his message.

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Why It Matters: Time has shied away from making controversial selections for its Person of the Year since 1979 when its selection of Iranian ruler Ayatollah Khomeini resulted in a wave of canceled subscriptions.

On a few occasions, the magazine’s editors flirted with controversy but never followed through. In 1999, Adolf Hitler was considered as Time’s Person of the Century, but the magazine opted to go with Albert Einstein. In 2001, Osama bin Laden was the frontrunner among the editors, but New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was chosen instead.

Photo: NASA.