The Top 10 Most-Googled People in 2017 List Includes a Lot of Trash Men
By Evelyn Wang. Photos by: Getty Images.
Can this year just be over already? Google released its top 10 most-searched people on Wednesday in the wee hours of the morning, and the results are incredibly depressing — yet somehow not surprising at all. Not even a little bit.
There were six men on this list, and every single one of them is trash. Not all of them are trash in the same way, and it goes without saying that some are more trash than others, but ultimately, the events of 2017 forced us to Google a lot of scummy guys (and their salaries) this year. The list of six most-Googled men of 2017 consists of four alleged sexual assaulters and harassers, an alt-right troll turned alleged pedophilia apologist, and a man who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about possible Russian collusion.
Since far more than four men were accused of sexual assault and harassment this year, this requires specifics: The number-one most-Googled boiled debris of a man was Matt Lauer, the former Today show host who was fired after an unnamed colleague reported his alleged "inappropriate sexual behavior" to NBC. The second most-Googled was Harvey Weinstein, whose alleged serial sexual assault and harassment of countless women in Hollywood was uncovered by not one, but two exposés made possible by the courage of the alleged victims who came forward.
To give you a breather, the third most-Googled man is not, in fact, an alleged sexual harasser: It's Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, who, instead, merely lied to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his conversations with then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Both numbers four and five on the list have been fired following accusations of sexual harassment and/or assault: Bill O'Reilly, who was accused of sexual harassment and misconduct by five women via a New York Times report, and Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by many young men in the industry; many LGBTQ+ advocates felt that he came out as gay to deflect from the initial accusation.
Last but not least, we have Milo Yiannopoulos, the alt-right provocateur who took a break from harassing a trans student and inspiring the racist abuse of Leslie Jones to talk about men having sex with 14-year-old boys. So, yeah...trash.
Meanwhile, the most-Googled women included Melania Trump, Kathy Griffin, and Gal Gadot, who took seventh, eighth, and tenth place, respectively, on the list overall. But if there's one silver lining to this entire story, it's that soon-to-be duchess Meghan Markle was the second-most Googled person this year. Next year — and the royal wedding — cannot come soon enough.
Here's the full list:
1. Matt Lauer
2. Meghan Markle
3. Harvey Weinstein
4. Michael Flynn
5. Kevin Spacey
6. Bill O'Reilly
7. Melania Trump
8. Kathy Griffin
9. Milo Yiannopoulos
10. Gal Gadot
Hey, on the bright side, since Meghan Markle and Gal Gadot have captivated America's attention, we'll at least have part of the 2018 news cycle that does not make us all want to cry, scream, and occasionally throw up. Still, here's hoping next year nevertheless sees continued interest in awareness surrounding sexual assault, workplace harassment, and rape culture. Cheers, 2018!
This story originally appeared on Allure.
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