Each year, People picks its Sexiest Man Alive, an honor awarded to that year’s hunk who captured the collective attention, not only through his good looks but in the projects he released that year.
Imagine my (and the Internet’s) surprise last year when they picked John Krasinski — you know, Jim from The Office — or to give him a bit more credit, The Quiet Place trilogy. While he is excellent to look at, the choice to pick him felt uninspired, even if the goal was to gawk.
I love to objectify handsome men as much as the next gay. Frankly, I think we should objectify men more — but that’s a conversation for a different day. But there are men out there who tick multiple talent boxes, such as acting, singing, and dancing — the one person who does all three is this year’s honoree: Jonathan Bailey. For years, he’s been stealing our hearts in shows like Michaela Coel’s Chewing Gum, Crashing, or more recently in steamier roles in Showtime’s Fellow Travelers and Netflix’s period hit, Bridgerton. He found even more mainstream success after taking on the role of Fiyero in Wicked, which is set to release its extremely anticipated sequel, Wicked: For Good, later this month.
While it’s excellent that Bailey made history as the magazine’s first out queer honoree, it’s important to note that People has long prioritized Eurocentric beauty standards. In the 41 years that People has bestowed this annual hunky honor, it took the publication 12 years to highlight a Black man, with Denzel Washington being the first POC inductee back in 1996. Even then, only five men of color have been chosen in the four decades, none of whom were Latin or Asian. It’s confusing to me, a self-proclaimed hot man expert, as to how this oversight has been made time and time again. There are so many gorgeous men of color — many of whom are queer! If People needs some help choosing next year’s Man of the Year, here are a few candidates they should consider:
Colman Domingo is not only a queer, Latine, two-time Oscar-nominated actor, but he is also one of the suavest men to ever grace a red carpet. Every single event he’s confirmed to attend, the media is chomping at the bit to get a few snaps of his undoubtedly chic look for the evening. There’s also Ricky Martin, who has been stunning for at least two decades, and his most recent performance at the MTV Video Music Awards proves that he’s still got it. Not to mention Bad Bunny, who has never explicitly stated that he’s queer, but he’s embraced and has been embraced by the LGBTQ+ community for his staunch allyship in amplifying the violence that our trans sisters have faced and continue to face, not only in Puerto Rico but globally.
