Trust Piers Morgan to offer up an opinion that absolutely no one asked for. His most recent antic? Applauding Shakira for being the first high-profile woman to stand up “for men being men.” This comes just days after the singer made headlines by declaring that her two sons “hated” the Barbie movie and found it “emasculating.”
In an interview with Allure from Monday 1 April 2024, Shakira shared that she agreed with her sons regarding their disapproval of the film to an extent. The singer stated: “I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide. I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity. I think that men have a purpose in society and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.”
While Barbie was positively received by most, there are definitely still a number of critics who believe that the film alienated male audiences… I can just about hear the sound of tiny violins playing in the distance.
Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro even went as far as to say that Barbie was “one of the most woke movies [he] has ever seen,” branding it an “angry feminist claptrap that alienates men from women.” Shapiro hammered his point home in a 43-minute-long YouTube video.
Morgan has also been pretty vocal with his criticisms of Barbie. In fact, during the summer of 2023 when the film was released, the presenter wrote in his New York Post column: “If I made a movie mocking women as useless dunderheads, constantly attacking ‘the matriarchy,’ and depicting all things feminist as toxic bullsh*t, I wouldn’t just be cancelled, I’d be executed.”
“I thought the whole point of feminism is that women wanted equality with men, not a complete reversal of the perceived unequal social power structure. I don’t know any woman, other than perhaps US female soccer superstar Megan Rapinoe, who wants a world where women dominate absolutely everything—and men are reduced to dim-witted doormats barely capable of changing a light bulb,” Morgan continued.
Therefore, it makes sense that Morgan would be the first to jump to Shakira’s defence when the singer openly shared her own disappointment in the film. Morgan’s exact reply stated: “Hurrah for @shakira—finally, a high-profile woman prepared to stand up for men being men.”
While I’m sure some people were both surprised and upset with Shakira’s remarks, I doubt there’s one soul alive that didn’t see this coming from Morgan.