The “TIME 100" issue celebrating “The World’s Most Influential People” is a grubby little back-scratching enterprise among celebrities. Here’s Exhibit A: the cover of the September 27/October 4 issue is Prince Harry and his actress wife, Meghan Markle. (They're guessing this cover gooses sales at the news stand.) Inside, there is no cover story, just five promotional paragraphs carrying the byline of Jose Andres, “chef and founder of World Central Kitchen.”
The chef made a fluffy souffle of praise:
Springing into action is not the easy choice for a young duke and duchess who have been blessed through birth and talent, and burned by fame. It would be much safer to enjoy their good fortune and stay silent.
That’s not what Harry and Meghan do, or who they are. They turn compassion into boots on the ground through their Archewell Foundation. They give voice to the voiceless through media production. Hand in hand with nonprofit partners, they take risks to help communities in need—offering mental-health support to Black women and girls in the U.S., and feeding those affected by natural disasters in India and the Caribbean.
In a world where everyone has an opinion about people they don’t know, the duke and duchess have compassion for the people they don’t know. They don’t just opine. They run toward the struggle.
Wait a minute, Andres wrote they’re "feeding those affected by natural disasters"? Isn’t that what his World Central Kitchen does? Yes. A quick Google search shows their Archewell Foundation is a major donor to Andres (which is not disclosed). From Vanity Fair:
On Sunday, the couple announced Archewell’s first major charitable contribution—a partnership with chef José Andrés and his non-profit, World Central Kitchen, which focuses on combating food insecurity and feeding the hungry after major disasters.
“The health of our communities depends on our ability to connect to our shared humanity,” they said, according to Bloomberg. “When we think about Chef Andrés and his incredible team at World Central Kitchen, we’re reminded that even during a year of unimaginable hardship, there are so many amazing people willing — and working tirelessly — to support each other. World Central Kitchen inspires us through compassion in action.”
This makes the Time piece sound written by Harry and Meghan, since the subhead on the Andres article is "Turning Compassion Into Action."
Guess who else pumps big bucks into the Andres charity? The owners of Time, according to...Time (in a puff-piece on Andres, not by Andres):
Some two-thirds of World Central Kitchen’s 2019 revenues, or $19.1 million, came from individual donations, ranging from large gifts from philanthropists (including from Marc and Lynne Benioff, TIME’s owners and co-chairs) to kids giving $6 out of their allowance.
That doesn't include the donation of free publicity in the magazine.
