Does Time Magazine Intentionally Put Devil’s Horns on Cover Subjects They Dislike?
Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends related to architecture and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the magazine urban legends featured so far.
MAGAZINE URBAN LEGEND: Time magazine intentionally placed “devil horns” on Billy Graham and/or Bill Clinton as some sort of commentary.
Back in early January 1993, there was a bit of controversy when Time magazine revealed it’s Man of the Year. They chose the President-Elect, William Jefferson Clinton.
Here is the cover.
People were all, “Hey, are you insulting Bill Clinton by making it look like he has devil horns via the M in TIME?”
Time Magazine said, “No, it’s just a coincidence.”
Five years later, Clinton was on the cover again, and again…
And again, Time Magazine said, “No, it’s just a coincidence.”
Six years ago, Billy Graham was on the cover. Time magazine put him on the cover of the magazine and, once again, if you check out the cover, the M in Time looks like devil horns…
And yet again, after criticism from people offended by the cover, Time said, “No, it’s just a coincidence.”
And while I can’t PROVE it (because I can’t read minds), I’m going with “yeah, it’s just a coincidence.”
Here’s the main reason why.
Check out these covers. Time magazine has put “devil horns” on…
Person of the Year Vladimir Putin…
Maggie Thatcher…
Bill Gates…
George W. Bush….
General Petraeus…
Kate Winslet…
Franklin Delano Roosevelt…
Jay Leno…
Kim Jung Un…
Angelina Jolie…
Kathryn Bigelow…
Now, some lesser horns…
Ronald Reagan…
Lyndon B. Johnson….
Abraham freakin’ Lincoln…
South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem…
Prince Charles…
David Rockefeller…
Ben Bernanke…
Jonathan Franzen…
and this one I wouldn’t even mention except that when it came out, people DID complain that it made her look like she had devil horns, so Hillary Clinton…
So, look at those people!
They are from all facets of life and temperament, so it’s extremely unlikely that the editors at Time magazine have a problem with ALL of them, right?
It just looks like occasionally the M in TIME can look like devil horns – it sure seems like a coincidence to me, and since that fits the “official” explanation, I’m willing to go with a false here.
The legend is…
STATUS: False
Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future installments! My e-mail address is bcronin@legendsrevealed.com.
Its funny because I think the last one with Hillary looks more like horns since they are in front of the pic and are red.
The ones on hillary are her actual horns.
This is as bad as the sixties and early 70’s when Playboy had stars(not real stars) in the mastheads “P”and the legend grew about how each star was how many times Hef had bedded that month’s Playmate.
It was a mailing thing as I recall.
Now I’m more interested in the conspiracy theory of why Time clearly goes with “Put the person in front of the logo” stylistic choice in all those other covers, but then moved it in front of Hillary Clinton.
WHAT SECRET ARE THEY TRYING TO TELL US?
With the exception of Kate Winslett and a couple that i didnt recognise, they were all kinda devilish and deserved !