Slaven Vlasic/FIlmMagic; Michael Tran/WireImageIt's never pretty when a candidate's appointment is mired in such controversy. Then again, it is just two hot dudes we're talking about here, so win-win!
The trouble began yesterday morning, when People magazine made the perfectly acceptable and legitimate if just a teensy bit uninspired decision to crown Bradley Cooper as the fairest in all the land, awarding him the title of this year's Sexiest Man Alive. And all was well. For a little while.
Cut to this morning, when fangirl lines have been drawn and it's clear the Internet (and George Clooney!) has spoken: Ryan Gosling was robbed.
After all, who else spawned not just one but two wildly popular Internet memes this year? Who else got their vigilante on in the middle of a New York City crosswalk? Has starred in three hit movies this year? Has A-list women and hoi polloi alike fawning over his every move (saying he'd rather make babies than movies certainly helped that cause)? Can claim Justin Timberlake as a former roommate? And—let's just cut to the chase here—has abs that airbrushers can only dream of?
On heat alone, it certainly seems as if it was Ryan's year. And it's not just your sister and all her Facebook friends who are calling foul on the aesthetic selection.
But first, let's be clear: There has been no ill will toward Bradley Cooper in any of these campaigns and absolutely no challenge made to his genetic superiority over the rest of us. In fact, the Ryan-was-robbed snowballing would likely (OK, absolutely) have been started against whomever took this year's title. It just happened to be ole blue eyes. (So your self-esteem can remain intact, Bradley.)
As causes and online petitions go together like Ryan Gosling and Sexiest Man Alive titles (ahem), it should come as no surprise that one has already been launched, and so far accrued more than 1,500 signatures. Aptly, if somewhat clumsily, titled "People Magazine: Admit Ryan Gosling should have been named Sexiest Man Alive 2011," they've certainly gotten their point across.
"We believe People Magazine made a huge mistake by choosing Bradley Cooper as the 2011 Sexiest Man Alive. 2011 was clearly the year of Ryan Gosling and we demand that People Magazine give Ryan his own magazine cover. Together, we can right this wrong."
Then, there are posts popping up across the Internet with headlines like "63 Reasons Why Bradley Cooper Definitely Isn't the Sexiest Man Alive." Click in and you'll see 63 different photos of Ryan Gosling.
And then there's the most damning evidence of all that perhaps People was a bit hasty with their choice. It was Gosling, after all, who had the backing of one two-time Sexiest Man Aliver.
On Tuesday night, the eve of People's cover unveiling, Extra caught up with none other than George Clooney and quizzed him on which Hollywood stallion he was backing in the race. He didn't mince words.
"It's got to be Ryan, don't you think? He's been training and working so hard for it, Ryan Gosling has—he really wants it," Clooney joked.
"The whole time we were on the set of Ides [of March] he was like, 'How did you pull that off?' So I called up Brad Pitt and we worked with him for weeks, the walk, we told him how to train, everything."
So even George Clooney thinks Ryan was robbed?!
Right this wrong, People. Or at least give Gosling the title he really deserves: Thinking Woman's (and George Clooney's) Sexiest Man Alive, perhaps?