2017's Top Newsmakers: From Beyonce To Harvey Weinstein
2017 is almost over. Here, we recap the personalities who made headlines this year.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN
Photo by Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press
In October 5, The New York Times published a story that revealed allegations of sexual harassment against the film mogul, with actresses Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd speaking up about the issue. Weinstein reportedly asked sexual favors from women in exchange of helping them advance their careers. As the story continues to circulate with developments every day, accusations of rape were brought to light and more and more alleged victims have come forward to share their horrible experiences with Weinstein. Among the actresses who accused Weinstein of sexual harassment are Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Cara de Levigne. Since this breaking news, many more public figues have been accused of similar sexual misconducts including Kevin Spacey, Bruce Weber, Nick Carter, Ryan Seacrest, Russell Simmons, Steven Seagal, Sylvester Stallone, Ed Westwick, Dustin Hoffman, Terry Richardson, Matt Lauer, and Ben Affleck.
DONALD TRUMP
Photo by Drew Angerer, Getty Images
The US President is on the news almost everyday not just for his political stance and moves but even for his personal life. An active Twitter user, Trump and his late-night tweet became viral in May as he left the netizens guessing the unfamiliar word he typed: “covfefe.” His tweet read: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.” Trump meant to tweet “coverage,” but was perhaps too sleepy to type it correctly. He deleted the tweet after about six hours, but by that time, the Internet was already feasting on memes about it. Then he tweeted: “Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe"??? Enjoy!"
BEYONCÉ
Queen B has always been a newsmaker for her feats in music. But this year, she became viral for her beautifully taken maternity shoot and, later, her photo with her twins Rumi and Sir. In February, she announced she’s pregnant with twins by Instagramming a photo showing her in her undergarment worn with a veil against a floral backdrop, while holding her bump. This is currently the most liked photo on Instagram this year, with more than 11.1 million likes. In July, she debuted her twins through another Instagram photo, which had the same feel and concept as her maternity shoot; it currently has 10.2 million likes. Beyoncé now has 108 million Instagram followers (btw, in case you’re not following her yet, she’s totally #FeedGoals!).
TAYLOR SWIFT
After Swift’s hiatus, she returned with a bang with the launch of “Look What You Made Me Do,” her first single from her latest album, Reputation—albeit mixed reactions. Launched last August, her music video for it reportedly had over 30 million views in its first day of release, surpassing Adele’s “Hello” record of 27.7 million views on the day of its release. Swift continues to make headlines as she has just released Reputation last November 10 and yet it is already 2017’s bestselling album with 1.22 million copies sold in its first week. The album is No. 1 on the Billboard chart for three weeks now. Her first concert appearance in 10 months was also much-talked about; she performed her Reputation songs “Look What You Made Me Do” and “End Game” (with Ed Sheeran) live at KIIS FM's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball in Los Angeles last Friday. Swift has also announced her Reputation tour dates next year.
DEMI-LEIGH NEL-PETERS
Photo from @roadtomissusa
Miss South Africa’s representative was crowned as Miss Universe 2017 last November 26 at The Axis at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. The 22-year-old Business Management graduate was a frontrunner even during the pageant’s preliminary competitions, but what sealed her win were her brilliant answers during the two Q&A portions. The beauty queen is especially loved for her advocacy of training women in self-defense, something she became passionate about when she was held at gunpoint and robbed after winning her title as Miss South Africa.
PABLO ISLA
Photo from Inditex
Inditex’s Chairman and CEO made headlines, when he was ranked number one in Harvard Business Review’s list of Top 100 best-performing CEOs this year. HBR is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. Inditex is the parent company of fashion and lifestyle brands like Zara, Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, and Uterqüe. Isla, who became the company’s CEO in 2005, has led Inditex’s global expansion. Their eight brands now have 7,405 stores in 94 countries. This year, they opened their first stores in Belarus. At a shareholders meeting this year, Isla shared that “sustainable growth strategy” based on “a circular economy” is the key to the success of the company in the coming years. Others who are part of HBR’s list are LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, Nordstrom’s Blake Nordstrom, L Brand’s Leslie Wexner, and Fast Retailing’s Tadashi Yanai.
