David Spade is offering an inside look at “#Barbiegate” — as he called it — and the possible reasons for the movie’s surprising Oscar snubs.
“Barbie got snubbed ina few catatgoies [sic],” Spade, 59, captioned a TikTok video on Wednesday, January 24. “Heres some lame theories.”
Spade said the category choices could provide a “slight explanation” for the missing nods. When this year’s Oscars nominations were announced on Tuesday, January 23, Ryan Gosling picked up a Best Supporting Actor nod for his role as Ken, but Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig were snubbed in the Best Actress and Best Director categories, respectively.
“[Gosling] is supporting actor. You pick what category you want to go in if it makes sense. So, his team gets together and goes, ‘Supporting is probably better, lead is probably harder,’” Spade said in his video. “It’s probably better chances to win — or get nominated — in a different category.”
@davidspade Barbie got snubbed ina few catatgoies. Heres some lame theories. barbiegate. #ryangosling margotrobbie. #oscars
He continued, “Margot is 1,000 percent the lead, and she was great. If she got nominated no one would blink, but they are blinking a lot and they’re having convulsions.”
Spade said that “maybe” Gosling, 43, was nominated “because he’s a man.” But he also offered a secondary explanation.
“It’s also because that category is slightly, I think, easier,” he continued, noting that the entire thing is a “touchy” and “odd scenario.”
“The other problem is, it’s a comedy,” Spade theorized. “Comedies are notoriously treated kind of s—tty in the showbiz world, especially [the] Academy world.”
Spade noted that Barbie was “very well done,” but his two aforementioned points could have given the film “a little bit of a ding” in terms of nominations.
“That’s my opinion, but who gives a f—k what I say,” Spade concluded.
Following the nominations announcement on Tuesday, various members of the Barbie cast and crew spoke out regarding the lack of recognition for Robbie, 33, and Gerwig, 40.
America Ferrera, who scored a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role as Gloria in the film, had mixed emotions about the honor.
“It’s so surreal and a dream come true for me,” she told Entertainment Weekly, in part, on Tuesday. “It’s a lot to process. It’s exciting to say the least. I think words kind of fail.”
Adding that she was “sad and disappointed” for her costar and their director, Ferrera, 39, continued, “Their work in both of those categories was phenomenal and in my book [they] deserve to be acknowledged for the history they made, for the ground they broke, for the beautiful artistry. They’re my girls, and I want to see them celebrated for their amazingness, so that part of it is definitely bittersweet.”
