Elon Musk slams ‘Barbie’ as right-wingers lose mind over box office hit

Article content

Twitter boss Elon Musk isn’t cheering the box office success of Margot Robbie’s Barbie.

Article content

The billionaire CEO took a swipe at the film’s popularity writing on Twitter: “If you take a shot every time Barbie says the word ‘Patriarchy,’ you will pass out before the movie ends.”

Article content

Article content

Musk was responding to a “Barbenheimer” meme that joked about his decision to change Twitter’s blue bird logo to “X” symbol.

“Are you setting a challenge or inviting people over for drinks?” one follower asked after Musk’s hot take quickly went viral.

But the Tesla founder was joining a chorus that included conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who found himself trending after he launched into a 43-minute rant against the movie and the number of times “patriarchy” is uttered by the actors.

“All you need to know about #BarbieTheMovie is that it unironically uses the word ‘patriarchy’ more than 10 times,” Shapiro said on Twitter, calling the movie a “flaming garbage heap of a film.”

“The basic sort of premise of the film, politically speaking, is that men and women are on two sides and they hate each other. And literally, the only way you can have a happy world is if the women ignore the men and the men ignore the women,” he raged in a video which saw him setting fire to a Barbie doll. “Plot-wise, it makes no sense. Character-wise, it makes no sense … every scene is at least two minutes too long.”

Article content

Article content

He added, “Margot Robbie is playing the lead. In fact, the entire cast aside from basically Ryan Gosling is women, so it seems like women are doing OK.”

Shapiro also suggested that the film was headed for box office failure. “[Barbie is] absolutely going to fall off a cliff [at the box office] … repeat business is going to be nonexistent,” he predicted.

Article content

Shapiro’s video review has ratcheted up 1.6 million views, but his take generated plenty of mocking of its own. “Did anybody actually think that Ben would like the Barbie movie?” one viewer asked, with another adding, “I’m not watching this, but a grown man filming a 43 minute rant about the BARBIE movie is so funny to me.”

Shapiro was also roasted by social media users for showing up for his Barbie screening wearing an outfit that matched one Ryan Gosling wears as Ken during one of the film’s musical scenes.

“Ben, you literally wore a Ken cosplay to the movie,” one person said in a TikTok video.

Article content

Others suggested that Shapiro was exaggerating his dislike of the movie.

“I was at the theatre with Ben Shapiro and I can confirm he loved it,” one person joked, racking up more than 186,000 likes. “He was blushing and giggling and tapping his toes the whole time.”

Article content

Joining Shapiro and Musk in their dislike of the film, Texas Senator Ted Cruz accused the movie of being “Chinese communist propaganda.”

“There’s a scene in Barbie, where there is this map of the world, and it’s drawn like with crayon. I mean, it’s really a very simple cartoon. And so they have this blockish thing that is called ‘Asia.’ And then they’ve drawn what are called the nine-dashes,” Cruz said in an interview with The Daily Signal on Sunday.

“This is Chinese communist propaganda in which the Chinese are asserting sovereignty over the entirety of the South China Sea. And they don’t have any right to it under international law, but they are trying to take it away from their neighbours there.”

“It is shameful to see Hollywood acting as a mouthpiece for the Chinese communists,” Cruz said earlier this month on his podcast.

Article content

But Warner Bros., the studio behind the film, denied any political message. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement,” the company said.

Article content

Ginger Gaetz, the wife of Republican Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, piled on complaining about “Disappointingly low T from Ken” and the fact that the film “neglects to address any notion of faith or family.”

“The Barbie I grew up with was a representation of limitless possibilities, embracing diverse careers and feminine empowerment,” Gaetz wrote. “I really wanted to enjoy it, but ended up feeling let down.”

Article content

Despite the conservative backlash (a few weeks back Fox News predicted the film was about to “get the Bud Light treatment”), Barbie has been a smash hit at the box office, earning $162 million in its opening weekend in North America. At the international box office, the film added $182 million for a hefty $337 million global haul.

Musk should drink to that.

[email protected]

Twitter: @markhdaniell

Article content