It is par for the course for movie-goers to be up in arms when their favourite films don’t receive a nod at various awards ceremonies. So it’s no surprise that fans of the Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie are outraged following the announcement of the 2024 Oscars nominations, which failed to nominate Gerwig for Best Director despite Barbie becoming the highest-grossing female-directed film in history. 

The movie’s star, Margot Robbie, who played the titular character, also did not receive a Best Actress nomination for her role in the ground-breaking film. 

While fans are certainly upset that these women were snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, controversy bloomed when it was revealed that Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken in Barbie, received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. 

Fans of the film aren’t the only ones upset by the Oscars snub, however. Gosling similarly issued a statement to CNN slamming the Academy for not nominating Gerwig and Robbie for their work. 

Greta Gerwig has made history as the first woman to direct three consecutive Best Picture nominees with “LADY BIRD,” “LITTLE WOMEN,” and now “BARBIE.” pic.twitter.com/zJHA5kSt3a

— cinesthetic. (@TheCinesthetic) January 23, 2024

“I am extremely honored to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films. And I never thought I’d be saying this, but I’m also incredibly honored and proud that it’s for portraying a plastic doll named Ken,” Gosling began. 

“But there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film,” he continued, referring to the fact that the film was the first female-directed project to gross more than $1 billion at the box office. 

“No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius,” said Gosling. 

“To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.

“Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other deserving nominees.”

Gosling concluded his statement by congratulating his Barbie co-star America Ferrera for her Best Supporting Actress nomination. 

Ryan Gosling just released a statement that directly calls out this morning’s Gerwig and Robbie snubs in best director and best actress: pic.twitter.com/gf5vQI5Z0c

— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) January 23, 2024

The actor’s statement comes just days after he refused to join Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt on stage to accept the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Song. The award went to Gosling for his Barbie track, ‘I’m Just Ken’, beating out other original songs from the soundtrack such as Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’ and Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the Night’.

Gosling’s statement was joined by a chorus of outraged fans who called out the Academy for failing to recognise the significant contributions that women like Gerwig and Robbie made to film over the last year. 

“Both Gerwig and Robbie ignored…it’s still so easy for Hollywood to overlook and discount artistic contributions of women — EVEN WHEN IT’S THE POINT OF THE YEAR’S BIGGEST MOVIE,” wrote MSNBC host Jennifer Palmieri. 

Author Kurt Andersen similarly chimed in on the controversy, writing: “Greta Gerwig’s omission is crazily wrong. Could’ve easily been in place of Scorsese, nominated for a film that isn’t even one of his own ten best.” Here Andersen refers to Scorsese’s ‘Best Director’ nomination for his recent film Killers of the Flower Moon. 

Really upset about #Barbie being snubbed, especially in the Best Director category.

The movie is absolutely brilliant, and Greta Gerwig is a genius.#Oscars #Oscars2024

— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) January 24, 2024

Despite the Barbie snub, LGBTQ+ projects shined in this year’s list of Oscars nominations, with nods going to the Bradley Cooper-directed Maestro, a biopic about bisexual conductor Leonard Bernstein. The project received a total of seven nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (Bradley Cooper), Best Actress (Carey Mulligan), Original Screenplay (Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer), Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Sound.

Jodie Foster and Annette Bening similarly received 2024 Oscar nominations for their queer roles in Nyad, while Colman Domingo received a Best Actor nomination for portraying Bayard Rustin, a gay civil rights activist, in Rustin. 

Additional LGBTQ+ nominations went to Lily Gladstone, who uses she/they pronouns, who was nominated for Best Actress for their role in Killers of the Flower Moon.

Sterling K. Brown similarly received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for portraying a gay character in American Fiction. Queer composer Laura Karpman also received a nomination for her work on the film’s score. 

Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, Nimona, and The ABCs of Book Banning, round out the list of 2024’s LGBTQ+ Oscars nominations. 

Unfortunately, other LGBTQ+ projects from the last year, such as All of Us Strangers, Strange Way of Life, May December, Saltburn and The Color Purple, were similarly snubbed in this year’s Oscars nominations, receiving minor nominations, or, in some cases, none at all. 

We’ll have to wait until March 10 to see which films take home the coveted awards at this year’s 96th annual Academy Awards ceremony.