Ryan Gosling reacts to Ken haters

Ryan Gosling has a message for Barbie fans who don’t think he’s a good fit to play Ken. Gosling depicts the beloved boyfriend of Barbie in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming ‘Barbie’ movie.

Gosling stars alongside Margot Robbie who plays the iconic Mattel doll. However, some online critics and longtime fans of the doll believe that Gosling wasn’t the best choice of casting for the film.

“I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with,” Gosling, 42, told GQ in a new cover interview published Wednesday when asked about stories published by outlets like the New York Post regarding some fans’ disapproval of his casting in the upcoming Barbie movie.

#NotMyKen

“It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken,” he continued. “Like you ever thought about Ken before this?”

Earlier in the interview, Gosling pointed out that Ken’s “job has been beach” since the doll was first introduced by toy company Mattel decades ago, a point he returned to while stating his interest in the character’s story within the upcoming movie.

“And everyone was fine with that, for him to have a job that is nothing. But suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t,” Gosling told the outlet. “You never did. You never cared. Barbie never f**** with Ken. That’s the point.”

“If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed,” Gosling added. “This is why his story must be told.”

Gosling then went on to joke that working with Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig has now caused him to “care about this dude now,” in reference to his character Ken.

“I’m like his representative,” Gosling said. “’Ken couldn’t show up to receive this award, so I’m here to accept it for him.’

His Ken-energy

Gosling previously coined the term ‘Ken-energy’ to describe channeling his inner ken during the Warner Bros. Pictures’ presentation at CInemaCon 2023 in April.

“I only knew Ken from afar. I didn’t know Ken from within, and if I’m being really honest I doubted my Ken-ergy,” the actor told the audience. “I didn’t see it, but Margot and Greta, they conjured this out of me somehow.”

‘Barbie’ hits theaters on July 21.