Ryan Gosling leads iconic Marilyn Monroe-esque Oscars ‘I’m Just Ken’ performance
"Forget an Oscar, give Ryan Gosling an EGOT"
If you hadn’t noticed, the Oscars took place on Sunday (10 March) night. Oppenheimer was, as predicted, the big winner but one moment has particularly captured everyone’s attention. And that was the moment Ryan Gosling took to the stage to perform a fabulous rendition of ‘I’m Just Ken’ from Barbie.
Ryan, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his iconic turn as Ken (but lost to Robert Downey Jr. for Oppenheimer) started the performance in the audience.
Sat behind Barbie co-star and producer Margot Robbie, Ryan, adorned in a pink bedazzled suit and a black cowboy hat, sang the song’s opening before moving to the stage to join Mark Ronson.
He then joined a group of dancers decked out in suits reminiscent of those worn by dancers in the iconic ‘Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ performance. Of course, Gosling’s look referenced Marilyn Monroe’s look in the same number from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Gosling then welcomed his fellow Kens – Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, and Kingsley Ben-Adir – before being held up in the air as the audience cheered. It was then revealed that Guns N’ Roses’s Slash had joined the performance riffing on his guitar.
Ryan then jumped into the audience interacting with Barbie director Greta Gerwig as well as Robbie and America Ferrera and also his La La Land co-star Emma Stone. Ryan then arrived back on stage in time for a big finish. By this point, the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, was well and truly on their feet.
“Forget an Oscar, give Ryan Gosling an EGOT”
“I’m serious when I say I’ll never be over this,” said one person on X. They also shared images of Ryan and Marilyn side by side. “Might just spend the whole day watching Ryan Gosling do I’m Just Ken at the Oscars,” wrote another viewer.
“Ryan gosling ‘i’m just ken’ performance at the oscars was so good,” typed another X user.
Meanwhile, someone else commented: “Forget an Oscar, give Ryan Gosling an EGOT for that ‘I’m Just Ken’.”
‘I’m Just Ken’ was up for Best Original Song on Sunday night. It was beaten by ‘What Was I Made For?’ by Billie Eilish, also for Barbie. Eilish’s win makes her the youngest artist to win more than one Oscar at 22. Her brother, Finneas also won for co-creating the song.
During the Oscars ceremony, Eilish and Finneas gave a heartfelt and graceful performance of the track.