Blake Shelton has been in the news since yesterday and it’s not because of The Voice. The country singer was recently named People’s Sexiest Man Alive this year which raised so many eyebrows.
Questions ranged from “Why not [male celebrity’s name]?” to “Did everyone else die?” W Magazine and Buzzfeed even made lists of men who should replace Blake. Some are even blaming his girlfriend Gwen Stefani for convincing him to take the offer.
You may also be wondering why people are making a big deal out of this. Is it because Blake doesn’t look as handsome or muscular as previous title-holders like George Clooney and Channing Tatum? It’s possible because of the lookist culture we sadly live in. But based on the arguments presented so far, it seems to go much deeper than looks.
One of the reasons is Blake’s past homophobic and racist tweets which were unearthed last year. Although he apologized and claimed that he has “no tolerance for hate of any form,” people still can’t forgive him. Especially after he endorsed Donald Trump during last year’s US elections.
And because we live in a world where Trump is US president, some people aren’t surprised that a “mediocre white man” is named sexiest man alive.
There’s also the case of him allegedly cheating on ex-wife Miranda Lambert with Gwen.
Meanwhile, others joked that People didn’t have other options (even Blake thought so) because the other male celebrities were either sex offenders or enablers.
Jokes aside, it seems that people are starting to look past the face value and searching for something substantial. Maybe this is also a wake-up call for People, as well as other magazines, to not just choose any guy to top a sexiest list. Blake may be on the cover right now but remember: there’s nothing sexy about sharing hateful posts, cheating (allegedly), and supporting a sex-offending leader.
Art by Lara Intong
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