We do a lot of thinking about people here. It is our job, to ponder the people and their actions and the words that they say. Because of this, we are uniquely able to discern who is worthy of being shortlisted for the official VICE Person of the Year award – for which there is no actual award, just a shortlist.So without further ado, here it is: VICE Person of the Year 2016.
LEONARDO DICAPRIO
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After thanking everyone in that ponderous, repellently modest way famous people do when they win, he used his speech to talk about climate change, which resulted in serious engagement with the issue across the globe. Throughout the rest of the year, Leo has continued to achieve gains for the planet by proving himself to be the man with the greatest conservationist influence on the planet. The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation awarded the largest portfolio of grants in its history – a total of $15.6 million to wildlife and habitat conservation, ocean conservation, to protect indigenous rights and to combat climate change. He released his climate change documentary Before the Flood in association with National Geographic and had it on YouTube so people without subscriptions could watch it. And because he is truly heaven sent, a few weeks ago he met with Trump, the terrifying climate change denier, to convince him that climate change is real and America needs to pull its weight. If anyone won 2016 it was Leo, and if anyone can save 2017 it is Leo.– Hannah Ewens
HONEY BUN BABY
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THOSE TWO SESH GREMLINS WHO WROTE THE MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE
LAURA JANE GRACE
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"As if a birth certificate is some kind of eternally binding document," she said on Twitter. "I never had any say in what was put on it. No one asked me." Or, more succinctly, in the words she used when she took a lighter to her birth certificate: "Goodbye, gender."– Emile Reynolds
MUMS
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- Ryan Bassil
OLD JEWS
ZAC GOLDSMITH
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