Oscar nominations were announced yesterday ahead of the ceremony in March, and because this is 2024, there was a ton of discourse to accompany the Academy’s announcement. In particular, fans of Barbie feel slighted that neither Margot Robbie nor Greta Gerwig received nominations for Best Actress or Best Director respectively.


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A particularly famous fan took to social media to express her support for Robbie and Gerwig: former presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton. In her statement, she assured the pair that their millions of fans love them, and that they are Kenough.


For some reason, we live in a world where former politicians who came incredibly close to the White House feel it necessary to weigh in on the decisions made by the voting body of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Then again, this is the same universe in which a literal former president publishes year-end lists of his favorite movies, books and music, so maybe this is just how things are now.



Clinton wasn’t the only one to comment on the perceived snub. Ryan Gosling, who played Ken and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work, quickly issued a statement after the nominations were announced in which he said, “To say that I’m disappointed that they [Robbie and Gerwig] are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.” Simu Liu, who played a secondary Ken, also commented, saying of Robbie and Gerwig, “They deserve everything. They ARE everything.”



Meanwhile, fans on social media have been in an uproar, expressing their outrage at what they perceive to be a sexist decision on the part of the Academy. Putting aside the fact that Robbie was exclusively competing against other women, it ignores the fact that America Ferrera was nominated in her category of Best Supporting Actress, though she was reduced to a mere footnote in Gosling’s statement, and Gerwig was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. Robbie was also nominated in her capacity as producer in the Best Picture category.


Sexism is undoubtedly a problem at the Oscars, alongside racism — it’s truly a shame that in all of this, the fact that Lily Gladstone has made history as the first Native American woman to be nominated for Best Actress is being overlooked — and other forms of discrimination, but it’s difficult to see how it’s at play here. Barbie was never going to be an Oscar favorite. It’s a summer blockbuster based on existing IP about a children’s toy, and Mattel itself was involved in the film’s production. While it’s an entertaining movie, it’s far from Gerwig’s best directorial work, or Robbie’s best performance.


The fact that these perceived snubs have become enough of an issue for people like Hillary Clinton to publish statements about them is surreal. Is there nothing else she could be using her platform to advocate for? Is she really this aggressively unemployed?