Ryan Gosling brought the (Mojo Dojo Casa) house down at the 96th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night with a live performance of Barbie‘s Oscar-nominated song, “I’m Just Ken.” While the song didn’t take home the Oscar for Best Original Song (Billie Eilish won for “What Was I Made For?”) it definitely brought the Kenergy.
Gosling sported a sparkly custom Gucci pink suit and kicked off the “I’m Just Ken” performance from the crowd, sitting behind his co-star, Margot Robbie, before strutting up to the Oscar stage. On stage, he was joined by Mark Ronson and a legion of 65 backup dancers (including Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Ncuti Gatwa!) wearing black-and-white suits adorned with pink ribbons, complemented by pink bowties, hot pink socks and cowboy hats inscribed “Made especially for Ken.” The dancers eventually shuffled to the sides of the stage, revealing none other than Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen!
Other Oscar performance highlights included when the Barbie star passed the mic to director Greta Gerwig and costar America Ferrera, who sung along from the front row. (Oh, and Gosling also broke a board with his bare hands.)
You can watch (or rewatch) Gosling’s epic “I’m Just Ken” Oscar performance below:
Ryan Gosling and the cast of "Barbie" perform "I'm Just Ken" at the #Oscars. https://t.co/UNgGySGz3r pic.twitter.com/00hd0Jw8cy
— Variety (@Variety) March 11, 2024
The “I’m Just Ken” Oscar performance was intended to be a homage to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Gosling as the Marilyn Monroe character. In the scene from the iconic 1953 movie, the actress captivated audiences in a stunning hot pink dress designed by William “Billy” Travilla. Monroe’s male background dancers were dressed in black suits with matching pink accents and bowties.
Though Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Robbie and Gerwig were both unrecognized by the Academy in individual categories this year. “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,” Gosling wrote in a statement. “No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit, and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”
