Time magazine’s annual “100 most influential people” gala brought out a mix of public figures from rappers to presidential candidates.
The list included Republican presidential nomination, front-runner Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, along with Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, in its “leaders” category.
“You have everybody. I mean, you have everybody here, so it’s a great honor to be here, it’s a great honor to be one of the 100,” said Trump.
The “Time 100” bills itself as a collection of “world leaders,” “great minds” and “other icons of the moment.”
Among the icons for 2016 are rapper Nicki Minaj, who also served as one of the night’s performers, model Karlie Kloss and Formula One Driver, Lewis Hamilton.
“It is an incredible honor to be here. I was just saying that there are so many incredible influential people, inspiring people around the world, to be amongst them, I’m very, very proud. But I couldn’t have done it without my family, so tonight I’m representing for them, I brought my mom with me and I’m just going to enjoy the night,” said Hamilton.
Actors Melissa McCarthy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Gael Garcia Bernal and Priyanka Chopra made the “artists” list.
“I was psyched. I didn’t even know if it was real, I thought she was joking,” said Chopra, who stars in the U.S. television show Quantico.
“It was amazing to first be selected amongst the list and then to be put on the cover, in Asia and the U.S. editions – it just blew my mind. And I’m just so happy that my work is being encouraged the way it is,” she added.
Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei, who is best known for designing pop star’s Rihanna’s 2015 Met Ball dress, was also named in the “artists” category.
“It’s a big honor for me, it’s really special to be here and for people to celebrate my designs and artistry. I’m very happy to be here,” said Pei who attended the gala with Wendi Deng Murdoch.
Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner earned a place amongst the “titans” for his work with Stephen Hawking. The duo have a ten-year plan to try and detect human life on other galaxies by using the biggest radio telescopes in the world.
“We know that they should be out there because according to the latest scientistic data there are probably ten to twenty billion of planets like our planet just in our galaxy. So I think chances are pretty good that there will be life there, but also maybe some will evolve into intelligent life,” Milner explained.
International leaders on the Time 100 included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The complete list can be seen at www.time100.time.com/
Reuters