Michigan Man of the Year Award
The Michigan Man of the Year Award is a satirical award created by Michigan writer and improviser Mike Nichols.[1] Nichols, a Michigan resident, created the award as a joke after U.S. President Donald Trump made multiple claims of having been given a Man of the Year award in Michigan, despite evidence of such an award existing. The Michigan Man of the Year Award created by Nichols was first held in Grand Rapids, Michigan in September, 2019. The award was held again in Grand Rapids on September 20, 2020. [2]
Background[edit]
In 2019, Trump claimed multiple times that he had been honored as a "Man of the Year in Michigan." The claim was widely contested, with Factcheck.org calling Trump's claim "dubious." [3] News outlets, fact-checkers, late-night comedians, politicians, and Michigan residents were quick to point out that no such award existed. [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Trump has never given a full explanation of the claim, and no award outlet, organization, or Michigan resident has ever claimed responsibility for giving him such an award.
Nichols first learned of Trump's claim when watching a segment of Anderson Cooper's "Ridiculist," which featured Cooper debunking the claim. [10] Nichols then sarcastically created a Michigan Man of the Year Award event on Facebook on August 19, 2019. According to Nichols, the award was originally designed as a tongue-in-cheek response to Trump's claim. Nichols said the original Facebook event was created for "just a couple friends to meet up at Founders Brewing Company and ironically celebrate me for making up the award and giving it to myself because apparently that's what you do with the Michigan Man of the Year award: you make it up and give it yourself." As more people grew interested in attending the event, however, Nichols considered canceling as he was concerned the joke was steam-rolling out of control. Steve Zaagman, the founder of the Grand Rapids Original Swing Society, reached out and encouraged Nichols to turn the event into a comedic award show. Zaagman offered to fund and cohost the award. Nichols agreed and updated the Facebook event.
Michigan Man of the Year Award[edit]
The inaugural Michigan Man of the Year Award was held at 6 p.m., September 30, at Rezervoir Lounge in Grand Rapids, Michigan. [11] Nichols and Zaagman cohosted the event, with Nichols being named as the first official winner of the award and Zaagman as the second official winner. About 50-60 people attended the event, with men and women being named Michigan Man of the Year. Winners could be nominated beforehand and competed for the award at the event by winning trivia and party games, with a new winner being crowned about every five minutes. Winners received a trophy and self-signed certificate as Michigan Man of the Year. Trump was invited but did not attend.
A second Michigan Man of the Year Award event was celebrated on September 20, 2020.
Nichols considers the Michigan Man of the Year Award an inside-joke celebrating Michiganders. He has humorously described the award as Michigan's "fakest real award." Nichols has also stated that Trump is ineligible to win the award until officially apologizing for the claim.
Trump has not publicly commented on the award.
References[edit]
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/michiganmanoftheyear
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/events/283893092909297
- ↑ https://www.factcheck.org/2019/08/trumps-dubious-michigan-man-of-the-year-boast/
- ↑ https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-michigan-man-of-the-year-award-actually-gettysburg-address-2019-8
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOGQqI3dqrk
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHZzEdV_RIM&t=194s
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmxHRXzBbCg&t=63s
- ↑ https://www.theroot.com/trump-s-claimed-at-least-6-times-that-he-s-been-michiga-1843587466
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5udgalJ-GwU
- ↑ https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2019/08/17/ridiculist-trump-michigan-man-of-the-year-ac360-vpx.cnn
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/events/701198963659545/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22search_results%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22search%22%7D]%7D
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