Two-Time Failed Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Offers Condolences To Greta Gerwig And Margot Robbie For ‘Barbie’ Oscars Snub: “It Can Sting To Win The Box Office But Not Take Home The Gold”
Spencer Baculi
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[Editor’s Note: This article’s original headline described Clinton as a “two-time presidential runner-up”. While this was meant to reinforce the idea that Clinton is trying to draw parallels between herself and Gerwig, this language has been updated to “two-time failed presidential candidate” in order to more accurately reflect her multiple failed candidacies which include a 2008 primary loss to Obama and 2016 election loss to Trump. The original article follows below.]
Never one to let a self-serving opportunity go to waste, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has forced her way into the discourse surrounding the lack of 2024 Academy Award nominations for director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie’s work on Barbie by way of a transparent offering of her condolences to the two Hollywood creatives.
As announced by The Academy on January 23rd, in breaking the absolutely unrealistic expectation held among Barbie diehards that it would sweep the awards ceremony with a nomination in almost every category, the film would only find itself in the running for eight specific accolades: Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for Ryan Gosling’s performance as Ken), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (for America Ferrera’s performance as Gloria), Best Costume Design, Best Picture, Best Production Desgin, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Song (for both Gosling’s I’m Just Ken and Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For?).
Yet, despite this impressive showing, the film’s multiple nominations were not celebrated.
Rather, fans found themselves outraged over the fact that neither Gerwig nor Robbie’s Barbie work had received nods for Best Director or Best Actress (thought it should be noted that the director, along with her husband Noah Baumbach, has received a specific nomination for her work on the film’s screen play) – So much so, in fact, that The LA Times’ Mary McNamara even went as far as to outright wish violence against Academy members over the decision.
And unfortunately for everyone, among this vocal contingent of overtly-performative critics was none other than arguably one of the most widely-disliked politicians in American history, Clinton herself.
Seizing the chance to center herself within the conversation, the former United States Secretary of State took to Twitter on January 24th and declared, “Greta & Margot, while it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you.”
“You’re both so much more than Kenough,” she added before ultimately closing out her tweet with the hashtag ‘#HillaryBarbie’.
As noted above, while Clinton may be one of the pink-tinged outrage wave’s most well-known supporters, she is far from its only one.
“Four years after being overlooked for her work behind the camera for “Little Women,” the academy’s directors branch again slighted Gerwig, this time for Barbie,” criticized Glenn Whipp, another LA Times columnist. “You’d think making a movie that grossed more than $1.4 billion in box office, earned ecstatic reviews and launched a thousand think pieces would have merited a nomination.”
“Hollywood still has a big problem with women,” bleated Clinton’s fellow Democratic politician Joaquin Castro. “How do you end up directing the biggest hit of the year, a cultural phenomenon, and not get an Oscar nomination for best director? Be a female director in Hollywood, apparently
Even Gosling himself weighed in on the matter, asserting in a statement, I am extremely honored to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films. And I never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m also incredibly honored and proud that it’s for portraying a plastic doll named Ken. But there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film.”
“No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius,” he added. “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”