Joy Reid, host of MSNBC's news program "AM Joy," went to bat for Gretchen Carlson, formerly at Fox News. Carlson was a divisive figure at Fox, with many claiming that her show perpetuated the same kind of racism, bigotry, and sexism they consider indicative of the network itself.
However, Joy Reid believes that Carlson deserved to be mentioned in Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" story, and said so on Twitter December 7.
Amen. @GretchenCarlson deserved to be mentioned. Full stop. https://t.co/qvxKF6yioA
— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) December 7, 2017
Time 'Person of the year'
On December 6, Time Magazine unveiled their choice for "Person of the Year," which, according to Time, is less of an award than a description of a person who has had the most influence in a given year.
Rather than being positive or negative, the title goes to the person that Time believes has had the most impact on the world during the preceding year.
This year, they chose a group of people they called "The silence breakers," a name dedicated to people who have come forward with their stories and ignited the conversation about sexual assault in America.
Gretchen Carlson and Roger Ailes
In her tweet, Reid was responding to freelance journalist Yashar Ali, who noted that he was disappointed with Time for not mentioning Carlson, citing her "brave" fight against Roger Ailes, former CEO of Fox News.
I'm really disappointed that Time did not mention @GretchenCarlson in their story. She bravely took on Roger Ailes and ignited a national conversation. The NYT would not have done their Bill O'Reilly story if it weren't for her...which led to their Weinstein investigation. https://t.co/y3BhQeT3JN
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 6, 2017
Ali claims that Carlson and her lawsuit against Roger Ailes for sexual harassment in 2016 eventually opened up not only a dialogue about sexual assault but led to the New York Times investigations into other allegations.
Among these were accusations against former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and Hollywood magnate, Harvey Weinstein.
Other users also noted other omissions in Time's story about sexual assault, like Anthony Rapp, who alleged that Kevin Spacey initiated a sexual encounter with him when he was underage.
So did Anthony Rapp (@albinokid). He showed us that men were also victimized and part of the #MeToo movement. He's the one who came forward about his experience with Kevin Spacey, who @TIME simply stated was "scrubbed from a movie" ... like an afterthought.
— Linda "I am Woman Hear Me Roar" Donahue (@Middlesomething) December 7, 2017
"He showed us that men were also victimized," wrote the user.
Others found it a difficult pill to swallow to call Carlson influential when they believed that much of that influence was bad.
I hate Gretchen Carlson's politics but yes she was a victim too. But God do I hate her politics. so so much.
— Forest Trump 🇺🇸 (@Mealiesman) December 7, 2017
However readers may feel about the issue, logistics do not allow Time Magazine to properly feature every prominent voice in the call to take sexual assault more seriously in America.
However, Carlson appears to be a notable oversight. Reid's act of reaching across the aisle to speak up for Carlson may represent something Americans would like to see more of a conception of America where people of varying identities can respectfully disagree but ultimately protect each other.
