Ben Shapiro set fire to Barbie dolls during a review in which he hit out at what he branded a “woke” movie.
The 39-year-old commentator shared his thoughts on the newly released movie in a 43-minute-long YouTube video he posted on Saturday, July 22.
Shapiro started the video by stating he had seen both the Barbie movie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer before throwing a Barbie doll into a trash can and then burning the doll as well as a Ken doll as well as a pink toy car
The video was quickly circulated online, with many critics mocking him for appearing to dress up as Ryan Gosling’s character Ken, although it is not known if this was intentional or a coincidence.
Shapiro then launched into a tirade where he branded the film, in his opinion, a “piece of ****” as well as “one of the worst movies” he’d ever seen. He then pointed out that the presumed target audience for the movie were young and middle-aged mothers and their daughters based on who he saw in the cinema with him, but that the film did not cater to them, or to any other audience.
Shapiro then “put politics aside” and criticized the movie over the scenes and choices made by director Greta Gerwig before attempting to explain Barbie‘s high score on the movie rating website Rotten Tomatoes as being due to reviewers praising the film’s “woke” politics.
Newsweek saw Barbie held a Rotten Tomato score of 90 percent in both the movie-critic and audience scores based on thousands of verified ratings earning it a sought-after “certified fresh” award.
The website explains the award can be given out if it achieves a consistent Tomatometer score of 75 as well as meeting other criteria, but noted it could be taken away if the total drops below 70 percent.
Shapiro then claimed that he had “pages and pages” of notes and proceeded to slam the film over, among many other issues he saw in it, the inclusion of a Barbie character played by transgender actor Hari Nef and that she was “treated normally.”
He also hit out at the apparent sexual innuendos and jokes in the film and the choices to reference movies such as the 1968 epic science fiction film 2001: A Space Oddessy, which he said would not be understood by young people in the audience.
Since being shared on YouTube, the video has been viewed more than 669,000 times as of Sunday morning.
Barbie has come under a sustained backlash from some conservative groups and Republicans over a number of issues they conflicted with in the film.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) previously hit out at Barbie and claimed it features Chinese “propaganda” because of a scene featuring a crudely drawn map of Asia that some people said represented the highly-contested nine-dash line in the South China Sea.
Giner Gaetz, the wife of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, tweeted after seeing the movie: “Thinking about watching the Barbie movie? I’d recommend sticking to getting outfit inspiration and skipping the theater.
“The Barbie I grew up with was a representation of limitless possibilities, embracing diverse careers and feminine empowerment.
“The 2023 Barbie movie, unfortunately, neglects to address any notion of faith or family, and tries to normalize that men and women can’t collaborate positively (yuck).”
Newswee contacted the Daily Wire, a Shapiro representative and Warner Bros. for comment via email on Sunday.
This content was originally published here.
