As Conservatives Slam ‘Barbie,’ Whoopi Goldberg Fires Back: ‘It’s a Movie About a Doll! I Thought Y’all Would Be Happy…There’s No Sex Involved’
Much media attention has been paid to conservative figures such as Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz being outraged over Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie. Even Elon Musk jointed the anti-“Barbie” brigade by mocking the film for taking aim at the patriarchy. “If you take a shot every time Barbie says the word ‘Patriarchy,’ you will pass out before the movie ends,” Musk posted.
Whoopi Goldberg is here for none of it. On the latest episode of “The View” (via People), the EGOT winner told off conservatives who are so upset by “Barbie.”
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“It’s a movie!” Goldberg exclaimed. “It’s a movie about a doll! I thought y’all would be happy. [Barbie] has no genitalia, so there’s no sex involved. Ken has no genitalia, so he can’t — it’s a doll movie! And the kids know it’s colorful and it’s Barbie.”
“You guys, I want y’all to tell your daughters why you’re not taking them to the ‘Barbie’ movie,” Goldberg added. “I want you to explain to them what’s wrong with Barbie…It’s a doll movie, guys. I’m shocked that that’s what’s freaking you out these days.”
Ahead of the film’s release, Cruz accused the “Barbie” movie of “kiss[ing] up to the Chinese communist party because they want to make money selling the movie in China.” Cruz was referring to the drama over the inclusion of a map in the film that appears to show the “nine dash line,” which reinforces China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. Warner Bros. later explained the map is “a child-like crayon drawing” and the dotted lines show the route from Barbieland to the real world.
Ben Shapiro then posted a viral video on social media in which he set Barbie dolls on fire with a BBQ lighter while railing against the movie. “The basic sort of premise of the film, politically speaking, is that men and women are on two sides and they hate each other,” he said. “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 later predicted, “[‘Barbie’ is] absolutely going to fall off a cliff [at the box office]…repeat business is going to be nonexistent.”
“Barbie” would go on to top the box office in record-breaking fashion, earning a historic $162 million in its debut weekend. That number gave “Barbie” the biggest opening ever for a female director and one of the biggest launches in history for a live-action comedy. “Barbie” then earned $26 million on its first Monday of release, making it the top Monday grosser in Warner Bros.’ history.
“They hit two things: they talk about the real world that everybody lives in, and they talk about Barbie world. And they’re two different things,” Goldberg stressed on “The View.” “And it’s meant to make you just think or pause, it’s not meant to do anything but give you a good time. Go see the movie!”
Other conservative figures like podcaster Matt Walsh have condemned “Barbie” as “the most aggressively anti-man, feminist propaganda fest ever put to film.”
Goldberg’s “The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as assistant to the president in 2020 under Donald Trump, also defended the “Barbie” movie.
“It’s fun,” Farah Griffin said. “Greta Gerwig’s brilliant…I’m so taken by some of these right-wing men who have all these thoughts on masculinity. Like, somehow, the ‘Barbie’ movie Is going to make them feel emasculated. No, caring so much about it is honestly the most emasculating thing I could think about it.”
“Barbie” is now playing in theaters nationwide from Warner Bros.
CONSERVATIVE OUTRAGE OVER 'BARBIE' MOVIE: Although Hollywood hit big at the box office with the premiere of #Barbie and #Oppenheimer, #TheView co-hosts react to #Barbie backlash from some. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/Eq9XQtFggt
— The View (@TheView) July 25, 2023
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