The Barbenheimer rivalry was brought to life at the 2024 Academy Awards as Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling took to the stage at the ceremony to roast each other.
Barbie star Gosling, who played the role of Ken, joked that Oppenheimer was “riding Barbie’s coat-tails all summer” while speaking at the Oscars in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Blunt meanwhile, who played Robert Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty, suggested there “wasn’t that much of a rivalry” between the two movies as Christopher Nolan’s epic had stormed the 2024 award season.
The term Barbenheimer was used to describe one of the biggest film events of 2023 when blockbuster movies Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released on July 21 in the UK, creating a rivalry between them.
Taking to the stage, the Quiet Place actress suggested that Gosling’s hello was “rather frosty” as the pair greeted each other.
The Barbie actor replied: “Not at all, I’m just happy that we can finally put this Barbenheimer rivalry behind us.”
“That’s right, here’s Ken and Kitty just leaving all that fodder in the dust,” Blunt said.
“And the way this award season’s turned out, it wasn’t that much of a rivalry, so just let it go,” she added, earning a raucous laugh from the audience.
The La La Land star then claimed he had figured out why the phrase was “Barbenheimer”, rather than “Oppenbarbie” because “you guys were at the tail end of that because you were riding Barbie’s coat-tails all summer”.
The camera panned to laughing Barbie star Margot Robbie while Blunt said: “Thanks for Ken-splaining that to me, Mr I need to paint my abs on to get nominated, you don’t see Robert Downey doing that.”
The pair then briefly wrestled over the microphone before Gosling said: “This is insane Emily, this has got to stop, we’ve got to squash this.”
The duo then put their “differences” aside and introduced a tribute to the stunt community in cinema.