Zendaya, Taika Waititi, Andrew Garfield Celebrate Their Time 100 Honors

From stars like Zendaya, Andrew Garfield and Taika Waititi to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 2022’s Time 100 honorees came together at a NYC gala on Wednesday to celebrate their place on the list of the most influential people in the world and stir the attendees to action.

“The temptation of a gathering like this, especially after so much time apart, is to reconnect with the people we know and have missed,” Time editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal said during his remarks at the Jazz at Lincoln Center. “The opportunity of a gathering like this is to connect with people we’ve never known, never met in fields we can hardly fathom and figure out what we can do together. I urge you to seize that opportunity.”

Miranda Lambert and Mary J. Blige performed, and over the course of the evening, guests were treated to playful bits from host Simu Liu, as well as Quinta Brunson, Dwayne Wade and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and more. Honorees like Ariana DeBose, Karuna Nundy and President Zelenskyy — who sent in a 10-minute video — gave powerful toasts that touched on things like fighting tyranny, the importance of teachers and a reminder to the LGBTQIA+ community that they are loved.

The LGBTQIA+ community was top of mind for Wade, a 2020 Time 100 honoree, as well. On the red carpet ahead of the gala, he discussed the importance of families continuing to evolve with their LGBTQIA+ loved ones.

“As the world grows, more information is out there, more exposure and experience is out there. We shouldn’t stay where we are. We should always want to move forward,” the retired NBA star said. “I don’t like the conversation of closing a book on a community. I don’t understand how that is reasonable as a human being.”

He also shared that his daughter, Zaya, is constantly showing him what courage looks like with her patience, calmness and the intelligence to know that she has “a lot of people behind her that will do whatever to make sure that she gets to live the life that she was born to live.”

Nadine Smith, Time 100 2022 honoree and the executive director of Equality Florida, which has been fighting the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, says her proudest achievement of the last year is getting people involved in politics who never really considered themselves “political.”

“Just reminding people that how far we’ve come, that it hasn’t always been easy,” Smith told The Hollywood Reporter. “But history shows us that we’ve defeated these kinds of regressive forces in the past, we’ll do it again, and hopefully, we’ll do it swiftly enough that the harm the damage that they are causing will be minimal.”

Though the Time 100 list always highlights the most influential people in the world, every year is different, and the list evolves to meet the news moment, explains Dan Macsai, the editorial director of the annual issue.

“Every year as we assemble it, we look at the news stories that have been driving [the conversation],” Macsai told THR. “This year, of course, we’re looking at what’s happening in Ukraine. We’re looking at what’s happening with the pandemic. So, those were two big news stories you’ll see reflected in addition to all the amazing entertainers and doctors and scientists and politicians.”

The fact that the list of honorees goes beyond stars and includes people who are changing the world in one way or another is the most impressive part for Latin music sensation J Balvin. Balvin was on the list in 2020 but wasn’t able to celebrate then due to the pandemic.

“It’s all of the Avengers here,” he told THR. “You see all these great people that change the world. We’re here not talking about charts. We’re not here talking about selling. We’re here talking about changes, and that’s really beautiful.”