As Oscar nominations were made known to the public on Tuesday, mainstream media outlets and social media users have expressed their discontent after Barbie‘s Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were not recognized by the Academy in the Best Actress and Best Director categories, respectively.
Addressing the situation, Ryan Gosling — who received the Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role as Ken in the film — issued a statement expressing his disappointment in the Academy for snubbing Robbie and Gerwig.
“I am extremely honored to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films,” prefaced Gosling in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
He then posited, “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.”
“To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement,” Gosling added. “Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history.”
The Ken actor would then proceed to call out the Academy for failing to give recognition to Robbie and Gerwig, but also appreciating that his Barbie co-star America Ferrera was also nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category, decrying, “Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”
“Having said that. I am so happy for America Ferrera and the other incredible artists who contributed their talents to making this such a groundbreaking film,” Gosling concluded.
Gosling made sure to specify he was disappointed in Robbie and Gerwig not being nominated in their respective categories, as lead actress and director, for their roles in Barbie. What several mainstream media outlets and social media users fail to mention, however, is that they were nominated in other categories.
The Academy did nominate Gerwig in the Writing (Adapted Screenplay) category alongside husband and Barbie co-writer Noah Baumbach. The film was also nominated in the Best Picture category, which also means Robbie gets a nomination as one of the film’s producers.
In their desperate attempt to find reasons to justify Gerwig and Robbie getting recognition as director and lead actress in the Barbie, a handful of woke mainstream media outlets pointed out that the Warner Bros. film had been a box office hit.
The Los Angeles Time’s Glenn Hipp noted, “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.'”
“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.”
Echoing Hipp’s comments regarding the film’s financial success, People Magazine’s Benjamin VanHoose argued, “Greta Gerwig was left out of the Best Director category, while star Margot Robbie was absent from the Best Actress category.”
He added, “Despite helming the No. 1 movie of the year at the box office, Gerwig, 40 was not recognized in the directing category.”
Other outlets like the far-left Vox proposed that the Oscars snubbing Gergwig and Robbie can be attributed to the patriarchy, asserting, “Despite how egregious these Barbie snubs look, it’s maybe not a shock that Gosling was the safest bet when it came to Barbie’s Oscar chances. (His big number “I’m Just Ken” is also nominated for Best Original Song.)”
“Despite the film’s attempts to underscore Ken’s unimportance, the movie arguably gave the Drive actor a lot to do while being ripped and hot. Blame it on the power of a fine, goofy man, but also on industry sexism,” the article suggested.