Simu Liu addresses awkward ‘Barbie’ red carpet moment with Ryan Gosling

Simu Liu has addressed a recent awkward Barbie red carpet moment with his co-star Ryan Gosling.

It comes after footage showed an awkward exchange between the pair at the film’s Toronto premiere last month, in which Gosling appeared to brush off Liu’s arm.

At the time, Liu, who plays a version of Ken in the Greta Gerwig movie, backed off, saying, “You don’t what – oh, it’s too tender? Fair enough.”

You asked for it! Here’s the full clip of Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu interacting on the #Barbie movie red carpet in Toronto 💕 The Kenmance is strong 💪 pic.twitter.com/D8uoWbCR0P

— Etalk (@etalkCTV) July 26, 2023

But the Shang-Chi actor has now shared an Instagram Story photo of the duo and set the record straight saying: “I’d beach off with this Kenadian again in a heartbeat. He is the best human in every way, especially when he jokes around with us on the carpet and on set, infecting all of us with his kenergy.”

He concluded with a message about the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, adding: “Now let’s get back to the issues that matter, like supporting our striking actors and writers fighting for fair wages!”

Meanwhile, Gerwig recently revealed that she had to cut a “fart opera” out of the film following screen tests.

Speaking to IndieWire, the director and the film’s editor Nick Houy shared that across the three films (Lady Bird, Little Women, Barbie) they have worked on together, they always try to sneak in a fart joke, but none of the jokes have ever made the final cut of the film.

Barbie proved to be no different, Gerwig explained, saying: “We’ve always tried to get in a proper fart joke and we’ve never done it. We had like a fart opera in the middle [of Barbie]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus.”

“It was in the wrong place, too,” Houy said. “We need to work it into a more significant narrative moment next time.”  It is currently unclear where the “fart opera” would have fit into the film.

Houy expanded on their decision to cut the scene out of the film: “We were just, like, ‘Let’s put it in front of people and see how they react.’ Everyone’s different and every screening’s different and we’ve definitely learned, over the years, that you really have to let things have their fair chance and then act accordingly. Once you know it’s dead, you have got to get it out of there.”

Barbie arrived in cinemas on July 21 and stars Margot Robbie, Gosling, Liu, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Dua Lipa, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney and more.

The film earned a four-star review, with NME‘s Alex Flood writing: “The script contains unexpected subtlety, particularly during the tender moments which pack an emotional punch. Gerwig is clever enough to deliver these with self-awareness and some sarcastic jokes, meaning the balance between reality and commercial is never lost. For a movie that ostensibly exists to promote a doll, this is laudable. Now come on Barbie, let’s go party.”