Hillary Clinton waded into the Oscars-Barbie discourse online on Wednesday, provoking a firestorm of backlash, hilarity, and dunks on the former secretary of state.
“Greta & Margot,” Clinton posted on X, referencing Barbie director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie, “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. #HillaryBarbie”
Clinton was making a double reference to both her loss in the 2016 presidential election and the recent Academy Award nominations, where neither Gerwig nor Robbie was nominated for Best Director or Best Actress.
Clinton, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2016, won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College to former President Donald Trump. Barbie took in over $1.4 billion globally, but some people think Gerwig and Margot deserved nominations for their respective categories.
Barbie was nominated in eight other Oscar categories, including Best Screenplay, Best Picture, and a Best Supporting Actress nomination for America Ferrera.
That led to a cycle of discourse where people and posters lamented the alleged snub, including Barbie co-star Ryan Gosling, who played Ken, putting out a statement saying there was no Barbie movie without Gerwig and Robbie, “the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film.”
Clinton’s viral post set off another round of debate on the topic, with plenty of people joining in to laugh at the fact she’d made the post—as well as criticizing her for staying conspicuously silent about other, more pressing topics.
“what an amazing discourse accelerant, this is like discovering how to build a hydrogen bomb, i’m in awe,” posted the reporter Matthew Zeitlin.
“look at that subtle 2016 election reference. the tasteful Kenough placement of it. oh my God. It even has a hashtag,” joked @seungylee14, referencing a scene from American Psycho.
“One of the most powerful woman in the world has the energy to cosplay feminism and express her support for two other white, rich, and privileged women,” wrote Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura, a genocide studies expert “but is unable to express any sympathy with the thousands of women & girls killed by Israeli forces & thousands others starving.”
Buljušmić-Kustura continued in a thread to explain that while she loved the movie and Gerwig was one of her favorite directors, seeing people complain about the alleged snub was heartbreaking and anger-inducing while Israel is conducting an invasion of Gaza.
That sympathy was mirrored in other tweets critical of Clinton’s post.
Others said the discourse on the movie was exhausting and actively making them not even like it anymore.
“it’s like the whole world is conspiring to make me hate a movie that i saw and ENJOYED,” posted @abram_facts.
“lmao extremely well put,” added @oofwarrior. “I liked Barbie. A lot! But the discourse around its Oscar ‘snubs’ is such an indictment of our movie going culture.”
Or as one person said, “absolutely living in hell. deeply unserious country. what the fuck is wrong with everyone.”
