PEOPLE Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive 2024 was announced last night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: it’s John Krasinski, but really Jim Halpert from The Office, because he comes up a lot in his interview with the magazine, - it’s right under the title, actually:
“After a crush-worthy role on 'The Office', the devoted family man is now one of Hollywood’s hottest filmmakers.”
And Jim is mentioned in John’s first quote in the feature.
“Krasinski, who lives in Brooklyn with his wife of 14 years, actress Emily Blunt, 41, and their daughters Hazel, 10, and Violet, 8, recalls a moment a few years ago when he was walking his older daughter to school. “This guy went, ‘John? From The Office? Oh my God, it’s so good to see you!’ And he walked away,” says the actor. “And Hazel said, ‘So you work with that guy?’ I said, ‘No.’ And she said, ‘Why are you lying to me? He said he knows you from the office.’ ”
This is what I mean every year when I write in my Sexiest Man Alive prediction post (you can see this year’s entry published last week at The Squawk) about the recognisability of the candidate: whoever is given the title has to be familiar to a broad range of people. The Office was on network television in America for almost a decade, before everyone started cord-cutting and going over to streaming. That’s the enduring impact of legacy media.
John Krasinski is certainly not “my” personal Sexiest Man Alive but he does meet all the criteria:
-He accepted the invitation that includes an exclusive photo shoot and interview (I now call this the Ryan Gosling factor, because the rumour is that Ryan turned it down, multiple times)
-Age range in his 40s, right in that SMA sweetspot
-Fame level, we just covered
And finally… he’s SAFE. Some might call it boring but that’s what PEOPLE is looking for, particularly this year. As I wrote in my prediction post last week:
“I feel like PEOPLE [wants a safe] option. The decision for the Sexiest Man Alive would have been weeks ago, allowing time for an interview and a photo shoot. Their considerations a few weeks ago would also have the election in mind. The SMA will be revealed exactly a week after the election in America. The PEOPLE team, when they were making their selection, would have been anticipating the mood of this week, and even though they couldn’t have known the outcome, there is no way they’d be looking to make the safest, least controversial choice possible without an assist from a crystal ball.”
There is nothing controversial about John K, to the point of blandness. But in these times, for a publication like PEOPLE, blandness is best, I guess. The most controversial thing that’s happened to John K was at the beginning of the year at the Golden Globes. Remember that stupid ass lipreading thing when TikTok decided he was telling Emily Blunt that he couldn’t wait to divorce her when what he was really saying was that he couldn’t wait to get indoors? LOOOLLLLL
@cbs Date night? #EmilyBlunt #JohnKrasinski #GoldenGlobes
♬ original sound - CBS
Cue another round of ridiculous rumours and/or conspiracy theories about how they postponed their divorce just so he could be crowned the Sexiest Man Alive, lawd.
The only conspiracy here, really, is the circle. John K comes from an SMA friend network. He’s close with George Clooney. He’s also part of a friend crew that includes Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, and Bradley Cooper – all former SMAs. And also…
You know what’s emerged here as an SMA trend (and because I’m shameless I expect full credit for pointing this out!)? We might want to keep this in mind for future SMA handicapping:
John Krasinski is from Newton, Massachusetts, which is just outside Boston.
Chris Evans is from Boston, MA.
Matt Damon is from Cambridge, MA, just outside Boston.
Ben Affleck is from Cambridge, MA, just outside Boston.
Boston, MA is the city that has produced the most SMAs. A total of four. Which, by the way, is now the current streak of white SMAs since Paul Rudd in 2021. Will that continue through, um, the next four years?
