Fauci hailed as ‘sexiest man alive’ by The Guardian

"Anthony Fauci, an 80-year-old scientist, doctor and public servant, has become an unlikely cult hero for millions of people during the Covid pandemic," The Guardian writes on Instagram.

"The US diseases expert has been spoofed by Brad Pitt and lauded as the 'sexiest man alive'. Now the pop culture phenomenon is the focus of a documentary, appropriately titled: Fauci," The Guardian continues.

John Hoffman, who co-directs the new documentary, said that "At the core of Tony's popularity is that people intuit that this is a man who is speaking the truth and will not let anything stand in the way."

"Tony is the signal amid the noise," Hoffman said. "People are able to sense that there's a lot of noise and their ears are trying to find the signal and Tony is the signal."

Fauci was nominated for "sexiest man alive" by People Magazine in 2020, and joked to Stephen Colbert, appearing on his show, "Well, Stephen, briefly, it was sort of an interesting concept," Fauci said. "[But] when you realize how far it is from the truth, being somewhat of a realistic person, I then get back to my job."

Fauci was, however, named one of the Men of the Year by People and was additionally featured as one of People's four People of the Year.

At the time, Fauci said of his new found fame that it was "surrealistic and, in some respects, nice and amusing."

"But you can't take that stuff seriously and start to think you're a celebrity," Fauci said. "When you start to think that, then you get into trouble. I'm a physician. I'm a scientist. And I'm a public health official."

Fauci, who has in many ways been the official face of the pandemic, has appeared on numerous news broadcasts to give his opinions on the science, politics, and social consequences of Covid-19. He has called for vaccine mandates and intensive social restrictions to enable virus mitigation.