Ryan Gosling Proves He’s Kenough, Calls Out Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s Oscar Snubs

Overall, it’s been a fantastic year for Barbie. The female-forward film earned a staggering $2.9 billion at the box office, and collected eight Oscar nominations. But those nominations included two disappointing snubs—and Barbie star Ryan Gosling is calling the Academy out.

When the Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday morning, Barbie nabbed nominations for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Gosling), Best Supporting Actress (America Ferrera), Best Song (“I’m Just Ken” and “What Was I Made For?”), Best Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design. Those nominations are all deserved, but there are two notable absences: Best Director (Greta Gerwig) and Best Actress (Margot Robbie).

To snub Gerwig and Robbie when Barbie swept other categories is just bizarre. This isn’t the first time a film has been nominated for Best Picture but not Best Director—see, for instance, Steven Spielberg’s infamous snub for Jaws—but considering the Oscars’ long history of snubbing female directors, this one feels especially sour. As fans on social media are pointing out, Barbie didn’t direct itself. Gerwig’s creative decisions as a director led to the film’s success.

Equally strange is Robbie’s snub. Gosling made us laugh as the ambitious but clueless Ken, but it was Robbie who moved us to tears with Barbie’s journey of self-discovery.

Luckily, Gosling is enough of a mensch to call out nonsense when he sees it. Talking to Entertainment Weekly about his own nomination, Gosling said, “To say that I’m disappointed that [Gerwig and Robbie] are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.

“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,” Gosling continued. “Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees.”

This is the kind of kenergy we want to see! And although Gerwig and Robbie’s snubs sting, we can take solace in the fact that fans know how much talent went into making Barbie a success. We can also celebrate the nominations it did get, like America Ferrera’s well-deserved nod. The snubs are a big disappointment, but the film itself will stand the test of time.

(via Entertainment Weekly, featured image: Warner Bros.)