Barbie music producer Mark Ronson isn’t here for Bill Maher’s take on Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar hit.
Ronson, who oversaw the film’s album and also co-produced and co-wrote several of the movie’s standout songs, including “I’m Just Ken,” took to social media on Tuesday to share his thoughts on the talk show host calling the movie “preachy, man-hating and a #ZombieLie.”
“We come to this place for magic,” Ronson began a tweet, imitating Nicole Kidman’s infamous ad. “We come to AMC theaters to laugh, to cry, to care… and to furiously google ‘mattel board configuration’ while others are trying to enjoy a f***king magnificent comedy.”
Ronson, who won an Academy Award in 2019 for best original song, was reacting to Maher’s four-paragraph tweet posted on Wednesday. The Real Time host writing that Barbie ended up being what he expected, even though he hoped it wouldn’t be.
“OK, ‘Barbie’: I was hoping it wouldn’t be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie – alas, it was all three,” Maher wrote. “What is a Zombie Lie? Something that never was true, but certain people refuse to stop saying it (tax cuts for the rich increase revenues, e.g.); OR something that USED to be true but no longer is, but certain people pretend it’s still true. ‘Barbie’ is this kind of #ZombieLie.”
He went on to address parts of the film — which are, heads up, a bit spoiler-y — explaining that when Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) approach the Mattel board in the real world, it consists of 12 white men.
“The real Mattel board is a pretty close mirror of the country, where 45% of the 449 board seats filled last year in Fortune 500 companies were women,” he continued. “Truth is, I’m not the one who’s out of step – I’m living in the year we’re living in. Barbie is fun, I enjoyed it – but it IS a #ZombieLie. And people who don’t go along with zombie lies did not take some red pill – just staying true to CURRENT reality.”
Maher joins Ben Shapiro and Elon Musk, who have both shared negative takes on Gerwig’s Barbie.