The term Barbenheimer has been trending on social media for the past several days. It was coined by joining the names of the two biggest summer releases of the year, Barbie and Oppenheimer. Both films were released on the same date, and the box office collection has been outstanding and became the fourth highest-grossing weekend in history in their debut outings. However, the use of the hashtag Barbenheimer has led to backlash from Japan.
Warner Bros. Film Group in the U.S. has issued a public apology in the context of the Barbenheimer meme that has hurt the sentiments of the Japanese people.
Warner Bros. made a public apology for a major offense in Japan
Warner Bros. Pictures’ project Barbie was released in July and features Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in lead roles. The production has gone all the way to the extensive promotion of the film. There were numerous social media campaigns promoting the movie on a massive scale.
Warner Bros. Japan shared a statement on its official Japanese-language Twitter account for Barbie, where they criticized the studio’s U.S. branch for supporting the Barbenheimer meme on social media.
Barbie’s U.S. Twitter account has interacted with some fan posts about the Barbenheimer trend, which refers to the dual box office releases of Universal’s Oppenheimer and Warner Bros.’ Barbie movies.
Warner Bros. Film Group in the U.S. has to make a public apology for social media activity that has offended Japan. They shared in a statement released on Variety,
“Warner Brothers regrets its recent insensitive social media engagement. The studio offers a sincere apology.”
The post was shared after the company faced criticism from the public in Japan. They started an online petition against the studio along with the Japanese branch of Warner.
Warner Bros. Barbenheimer controversy in Japan
As per reports, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is not yet released in Japan and there is no certainty of any date of release. The film deals with the sensitive topic of atomic bombing in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by the U.S. Army. According to estimates, approximately 250,000 people were killed due to the two atomic bombs in 1945.
In an attempt to not hurt the sentiments of the Japanese people, Warner Bros. wrote in the statement and shared from Barbie’s Japanese Twitter account,
“We consider it extremely regrettable that the official account of the American headquarters for the movie ‘Barbie’ reacted to the social media postings of ‘Barbenheimer’s fans. We take this situation very seriously. We are asking the U.S. headquarters to take appropriate action. We apologize to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate reactions. Warner Bros Japan.”
The controversy happened when Barbie’s U.S. Twitter account responded to one “Barbenheimer” fan art poster which sees Margot Robbie’s Barbie sitting on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer. They are seen in front of a fiery atomic mushroom cloud. The Barbie U.S. Twitter account commented,
“It’s going to be a summer to remember.”
Twitter later added a community note to the post to explain the historical context of the huge cloud in the image. They wrote,
“At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945 (Showa 20), an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima for the first time in human history. The particular nature of the damage caused by the atomic bombs is that mass destruction and mass murder occurred instantaneously and indiscriminately.”
The Barbenheimer craze has led to a massive backlash in Japan for reigniting the sensitive topic of mass destruction due to atomic bombs.
Source- Variety
