Why hasn’t Ryan Gosling been People’s Sexiest Man Alive? There’s a simple answer…

It turns out that People Magazine doesn’t just get to declare anyone the Sexiest Man Alive! According to The Wrap, Ryan Gosling has turned down the magazine’s offer to be named the Sexiest Man Alive several times.

“They tried a few times, especially during his huge year in 2011,” an individual close to the cover negotiations said, adding Ryan’s team declined the title. “The consensus was he’s too serious for it, too artsy.”

Back in 2011, there was actually so much outrage when Bradley Cooper won the title over Ryan that Buzzfeed protested outside of People‘s headquarters and thousands more signed a petition to make Ryan the next Sexiest Man. Bradley even thought the title should have gone to his Place Beyond the Pines costar…

“He’s the greatest. We were both in Paris this last week and a friend of mine showed me… there was photographs from paparazzi… and when I say ‘friend,’ I mean me, alone in my room looking at the computer. And it was of him walking around, and he literally looks like he’s in a photo shoot, like he just came off the runway,” Bradley said on The Graham Norton Show in 2011. “And there’s ones of me, and I literally look like the neighbor that never comes out of his house and when he does it makes you go, like, ‘Maybe he should just stay in.’ So, it’s interesting.”

However, People editorial director Jess Cagle said Ryan wasn’t offered the title — this year: “While I look forward to the day when Ryan Gosling is named Sexiest Man Alive, this was not his year. Our 2014 honoree Chris Hemsworth was our first and only choice. If you want to know why, just look at him. I mean, seriously.”