Move to name Keanu Reeves as Time's Person of the Year

SAN FRANCISCO • Could Keanu Reeves be named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" this year?

More than 104,000 fans certainly hope so, judging from a petition on change.org. The petition was started by his fan Jackson Beem two weeks ago.

Mr Beem wrote: "Keanu has secretly donated millions of his earnings to children's hospitals and other charities, and has done amazing things for people in public while ask (sic) for nothing in return."

The 54-year-old actor disclosed in a 2009 interview with Ladies' Home Journal magazine that he has started a private foundation which provides aid to children's hospitals and cancer research. There were also reports on the Internet detailing his secret acts of kindness .

This year has so far been good to The Matrix (1999) star, who has acted in the well-received John Wick: Chapter 3 and also voiced the action figure Duke Caboom in Toy Story 4. He made a cameo as himself in the Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe and was recently dubbed "the Internet's boyfriend".

Late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and other persecuted journalists were named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" last year.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 27, 2019, with the headline Move to name Keanu Reeves as Time's Person of the Year. Subscribe