People magazine has named a Sexiest Man Alive for 2020, and it is Michael B. Jordan
EVEN though this year has been upended in almost every possible way, People magazine was determined to keep its 35-year tradition going: the announcement of its Sexiest Man Alive.
This year, the honor went to Michael B. Jordan, 33, the celebrated movie star known for films such as ‘Black Panther' and ‘Creed'. The magazine also wrote that Jordan's production company was an early adopter of inclusion riders — which ensures diversity in a film's cast and crew that mirrors real-world demographics — and is a vocal supporter in the presidential election (last month, he joined former president Barack Obama and now-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for a fundraiser) and the Black Lives Matter movement.
And because it's 2020, Jordan arrived dressed in a hazmat-like suit for the unveiling on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Tuesday night. This led to a guessing game to deduce his identity, as fans interrogated him via Zoom with questions about whether he worked in film (yes), had a celebrity sibling or parent (no), had ever been in a relationship with Taylor Swift (“That's pretty specific, but, uh ... no”), had more than 5 million Instagram followers (yes) or played Aquaman (no).
Eventually, they narrowed it down. “Are you Michael B. Jordan?” one woman asked. The man in the hazmat-like suit paused. “How do I answer that?” he asked Kimmel.
When all was revealed, he sat down with Kimmel for an interview; the late-night host noted that Jordan “was bestowed with the most prestigious honor available to humankind
... whether President Trump accepts his victory or not.”
Jordan revealed he learned the news when his publicist and manager called when he was in the car with a friend
— and, of course, his friend immediately started to make fun of him. “Sexiest Man, that's cool to everybody else,” Jordan said.
“But anybody who really knows you, that's just another way they can give jabs to you.” Kimmel then aired a clip from Jordan's appearance on his show in January, before the coronavirus pandemic shut everything down and he had a studio audience. At the time, Kimmel told him that whenever he teased Jordan as a guest, the women in the crowd lost their minds. “I think you might be front-runner for Sexiest Man Alive this year,” Kimmel predicted. S o naturally, Kimmel had to brag about this.
“I feel like I put it out in the universe and the universe said yes, that is correct, he is the sexiest man,” he said.
“It's my ESP, Extra Sexiest Perception. It comes in very handy . ... This is the only time I've used it, but it really worked.”
Then Kimmel held up a copy of the magazine and pointed out that in the 'Sexy at Every Age' feature, the late-night host was named the sexiest man at 53 — and NBA legend Michael Jordan was the winner for age 57. Kimmel wondered if being featured as the main Sexiest Man — while the other Michael Jordan only got a tiny photo — might even be the more rewarding part of the honor.
“I'll take that,” Jordan said, laughing. “I'm not going to have too many of those over MJ, so I'm going to take that one.”
Previous Sexiest Man Alive winners:
1985: Mel Gibson 1986: Mark Harmon 1987: Harry Hamlin 1988: John F. Kennedy Jr. 1989: Sean Connery
1990: Tom Cruise
1991: Patrick Swayze
1992: Nick Nolte
1993: Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford (sexiest couple) 1994: No one - possible lack of sexiness that year
1995: Brad Pitt
1996: Denzel Washington 1997: George Clooney 1998: Harrison Ford
1999: Richard Gere (again) 2000: Brad Pitt (again) 2001: Pierce Brosnan 2002: Ben Affleck
2003: Johnny Depp
2004: Jude Law
2005: Matthew McConaughey 2006: George Clooney (again) 2007: Matt Damon
2008: Hugh Jackman 2009: Johnny Depp (again) 2010: Ryan Reynolds
2011: Bradley Cooper
2012: Channing Tatum 2013: Adam Levine
2014: Chris Hemsworth 2015: David Beckham 2016: Dwayne ‘The Rock' Johnson
2017: Blake Shelton
2018: Idris Elba
2019: John Legend