From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - Lizzo Faces The Music & Barbie Breaks The Box Office

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

Four-time Grammy winner and multiplatinum recording artist Lizzo faces allegations by former dancers of fat shaming and sexual harassment. Sean and Rachel sit down with their daughter and writer at The Federalist Evita Duffy-Alfonso to lay out the accusations and share why they believe there is a double standard in the entertainment industry for Liberal and Republican artists.  Later, they talk about the Barbie movie breaking box office records for a female-directed film, and what parents can do to educate their kids before watching the summer blockbuster. Follow Sean and Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Landman, new series now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. Hey everyone, welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I'm Sean Duffy, along with my co-host for the podcast, my partner in life, and my wife, Rachel Campos Duffy. Sean, it's great to be back. We have pretty salacious stories to talk about today. Well, the first one is, at least, the first we're going to talk about Lizzo, and there are brand new, fresh allegations on a pretty gross story, but I think it's important. It has some really deep cultural implications. And also we're going to talk about the Barbie movie, which has now surpassed a billion. It is now the number one, um, most highest grossing movie ever directed by a woman. And in the midst of that, um, more, more people weighing in on the lie of the patriarchy

that is pushed in this movie. And how, you know, it was such a fun movie and they kind of just ruined it. We've talked about that before, but there's a new advance to this, which is that Bill Maher has weighed in on Barbie. I know you want to hear what Bill Maher has to say about Barbie. I would love what Bill Maher says. I'm actually surprised he went to see Barbie. He doesn't seem like quite the audience, but to help us break down both these stories, starting with Lizzo, is our own daughter, Evita Duffy, who is a writer at The Federalist. Evita, how are you? Feeling good. Yeah, I mean, this Lizzo story is crazy. Before we started the

podcast, I actually asked, do you really want me to tell you all the details? Cause it's so bad. So last week Lizzo was accused by three of our, before you start Evita, why don't you tell, so there, we may have some listeners who don't know who Lizzo is. So why don't you break? Who is Lizzo? Why is she so important?

And for your dad too. Why do I care about Lizzo? You know who Lizzo is. You know who Lizzo is. Lizzo is a mega pop star. I mean, she's had multiple number one songs over the last few years. She's huge, particularly among younger Gen Zers. She's massive, both in the music industry and physically. And it's been her brand, actually, a huge part of her brand has been that she is an obese woman, a black, obese, LGBTQ plus woman.

And these allegations really get to the heart of this identity that she's created for herself because it's so backward. say that she has body shamed them and also coerced them into participating in these really awful sexual acts. So they say that at a sex club in Amsterdam, Lizzo and all of her staff went there. Allegedly, Lizzo coerced her dancers into touching nude performers and then eating bananas protruding from other performers' vaginas. It was a really awful, disgusting experience. And then these would have come forward and now are suing Lizzo. But new allegations have come this week, actually yesterday, saying that Lizzo, I guess she has been involved in more sexually inappropriate behavior with other employees of hers and also is being accused of failure to pay them. And in the midst of all this, her fans have really felt betrayed. And she's lost hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. Her upcoming performance at a music festival in September was canceled, and her streaming numbers, her airplay time, and her record sales have all plummeted. It's been disastrous for Lizzo. So she gave a statement to the New York Times. She says, I usually choose

not to respond to false allegations, but these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed. She says these sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional. So she is categorically denying these things and actually saying, I'm not the one who's inappropriate. these things and actually saying i'm not the one who's inappropriate it's my my my dancers right and i but but i think it doesn't really it doesn't really matter right i mean the damage has been done unfortunately in in the court of public opinion she's really been felt felt very she's been very uh you know taken away like her fans have not have not rallied around her they don't

they're not defending her everyone's very disturbed by this mostly with the irony that she's being accused of being a sexual harasser a bully and a fat phobic when she's built her whole brand around being you know this fat anti-bullying woman right and she said can i say she said the plaintiffs have said that the charges they make they say are sexual are sexual, religious, racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault, and false imprisonment. They say that the work environment was overtly sexual and that outings and nudity and sexuality were the focal point. were the focal point. And so, Bita, walking back, I believe that this is not, this was first engagement with public outcry and backlash. Weren't people saying things to her online about her own weight? And didn't the online community come and rally around her that we shouldn't, fat shame anybody or body shame people? And she was the hero of the online community of

being proud of her weight and her sexuality. And that was her jam for a while, wasn't it? Well, and she really brought it upon herself because no one would... I mean, people, performers, actors, celebrities in general, everybody comes in all shapes and sizes and nobody's really focusing on your body. They're focusing on, you know, your craft, right? If you're an actor, focusing on how well you are of an actor. If you're a singer like Lizzo, what is your music like? Let's focus on your music. But Lizzo purposely said, you know, you cannot separate me and my body and my self-love for my obese body from my music. We are, you know, intertwined. And so when people like Jillian Michaels, who famously said, she's Jillian Michaels is a, is a workout. Yeah. You had her on the podcast. She's, she's,

you know, that's what she's, I mean, she's known for, for health and fitness. And she said, you know, why, why can't we talk about Lizzo's music instead of focusing on her body? Because that's one, that's a personal thing. And two, if she's going to be promoting obesity, which Lizzo does on a daily basis, that's not actually really good for people to be hearing, right? We want people to be healthy and have a long life and not get heart disease. And Lizzo and all of her fans clapped back and said, no, we should be celebrating her body. And that's really where the irony is, right? Because she has intertwined her public persona with her weight, mated her entire brand. Lizzo, you can't be, you know, anti fat phobia, but then be a fat phobic person yourself. And had she actually said, you know, we're, I'm just going to be a musician who happens to be overweight. Um, I don't think the, the public outcry would be as severe as it is right now. I don't know. I mean, look, I'm looking at the charges that, um, are being made about what she

said to the dancer. So apparently, I mean, it is ironic to have this very large woman be your boss and actually ask you about your weight and have you explain why they said that they, she would ask, they didn't say you gained weight. You're fired is what the people said. They said, she would say, well, it seems like you're gaining weight. Let's talk about what's going on in your life. Like this is, you know, and so these people, it's unhealthy. The whole thing is crazy. But honestly, it's the sexual accusations that are the most troubling and the most disgusting, Evita. Well, they are gross. And I think we might have some disagreement here because I do. I admit that Lizzo is in a position of power when she's allegedly coercing her employees to be engaging in these sexual acts.

But as an individual, I would say if my boss said, we're going to go to a sex party in Amsterdam, and then if one, I decide to go there, and then two, if we get there and she's coercing me into doing all these things, I would just say no. I think I'm the kind of person that would be like, yeah, I'm just I'm not going to do that. And and I don't I'm not sure that peer pressure really is is warranted for a lawsuit. I really think that these women probably should have just stepped away and said no or decided not to go to this this sex party in the first place. I do admit that she's in a position of power, but I think a strong willed person would be, would say, you know, I'm, I'm just not going to do those things. Well, I mean, I, I, I, I'm sorry. I agree that women have agency and that, that these women should not have agreed to go to the club, should not have agreed to do the act, but you cannot take away the fact that Lizzo has tremendous power over them. So imagine you're on this tour,

you're in the middle of the tour, you're in Amsterdam, you're away from your home, your family, maybe you're a single mom. I don't know the background of you that maybe you know a little bit more about these dancers and what they're like. Maybe you're supporting a dying mother with cancer. We have no idea what the circumstances are and how important this job is to them. It should not be part of the job description to keep your job, to that you have to go to a sex club with Lizzo and do gross things that she wants you to do. And so ultimately, this lawsuit on its face, just because of the power structure there, I think is merited. Now, on a moral basis, I think you can say it was immoral and a very poor choice for these women to go along, regardless of the financial consequences.

But ultimately, I think the onus is on and the responsibility and the lawsuit is legit, because no boss should be asking anybody to go to a sex club, much less perform sex acts. Listen, hold on a second. So there is some equity here in the sense that if a man was accused of the same thing, they would be taken down immediately. That Lizzo gets to feel some of that same pain. I'm like, okay, we should all live by the same set of rules. So that's positive. But I don't like that these are the rules by which we live.

That just accusation makes someone guilty. Right? I don't like that these are the rules by which we live. That just accusation makes someone guilty. Right. I don't. Maybe these are aggrieved dancers that want to take Liz. Get money. They want money and they want to, you know, if they band together, they can create a storyline that has great impact and effect on a boss. They may not like may not because she's, you know, forced them or encouraged them to do these, you know, sex acts at a strip club.

In Amsterdam, more she might have been just a bad boss. And this is a way that they can get back at her. I think we do have to, before we judge and cast judgment or decision, we have to wait and go, what are the facts? I mean, are these credible people? Are they, did this really happen? Anyone else observe what happened in this strip club?

That would be helpful. But it's interesting that the culture and online community that has helped build her up, these accusations come and they've done the same thing to the opposite effect. They've torn her down. We'll have more of this conversation after this. From the Fox News Podcast Network. I'm Janice Dean, Fox News Senior Meteorologist. Be sure to subscribe to the Janice Dean Podcast at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And don't forget to spread the sunshine.

Well, she says, by the way, this is Lizzo. She says, I'm very open with my sexuality and expressing myself, but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not. Evita, do these, you know, I think Sean's right that, you know, that could we can't, you know, judge her before, you know, this entire investigation's out. How credible are these um are these accusations and let's talk a little bit more about for so long she's had i think a pass on some other things that she's done simply because she has fit so many boxes victim boxes um maybe she's finally reached the end limit of that but she's this isn't the first time that she's done some questionable things.

Right. Well, I mean, nine now we're at nine accusers. So that's a large number. I think dad's right that you were innocent until proven guilty. But it does appear that there was at the very, a questionable work environment that she was creating. And we won't know that until it's heard in law. But I also just think from a cultural standpoint, irrespective of whether these allegations are legit, we can't be judging people by the boxes that they check, right? These victimhood boxes. Everybody's always trying to assert their standing in a protected class, whether that be with race or sexuality or how fat you are. It doesn't tell you anything about who that person is. And with Lizzo, people just automatically sort of assume, oh, she's great. She must be

amazing because she's a minority who's fat and LGBTQ+. And in reality, that doesn't tell us anything about who a person is. And I think we fall into this issue all the time, right? Think about what's happening with the school system and this recent Supreme Court ruling about affirmative action. The school says these things will make us a better, more diverse school, if we're able to discriminate based off of sexual orientation or race. And the reality is that the best way to create an interesting, unique campus is by looking at individuals and their individual experiences and accomplishments and who they are as a person instead of what kind of group they belong to. And it's a real problem in our society at large, I think that we continue to judge people based off of immutable qualities and not real things that quantify who you are. So are you suggesting that, you know,

though she's now facing some financial pain and she's been canceled from this concert, etc., that had she been a white male superstar, she would have gone down, he would have gone down quicker than Lizzo, like that Lizzo, you know, in terms of his reputation. I don't know. I don't know about quicker. I just, I do know that, you know,

I just think that we should be, we should be judging people based off of real things, right? And not these boxes because they don't tell us about anything. I mean, it's certainly true that after all this came out, Lizzo And not these boxes because they don't tell us about anything. I mean, it's certainly true that after all this came out, Lizzo has not been off the hook. Those victimhood boxes couldn't protect her from how salacious these allegations are. And so I'm not going to say that they really actually were effective in protecting her when it really came down to it.

But as a general rule, people are given more opportunities in the workplace and in school or even in the entertainment industry based off of these really stupid standards that have to do with race and sex and sexual orientation and all, and not really about what matters and how good you are at your job or how smart you are or how talented you are. And I think that that's a problem. Well, listen, yes, there's been consequence to Lizzo, but I think she does have some stuff on her because I disagree with you. If this was a white man who had these allegations against them, their record label would drop them. Their media team would drop them. Their their media team would drop them.

Every concert would drop them. They would be canceled across every platform. The the wrath that would come if a white man had these allegations would be immediate and by everybody. So Lizzo has had some. Oh, I think I think that is 100 percent right. I'm going to give you a perfect example. Last summer, Jason Aldean's wife, not Jason Aldean, but his wife posted a tweet, basically say an anti-trans tweet saying we should protect children from this, quote unquote, gender affirming transitions and that it's that that's wrong, that we shouldn't be mutilating, castrating our children. She put a tweet out like that. Jason Aldean's PR team and I believe his agent dropped him. So that's not even something that he did. He just touched on the wrong. His wife touched on on a sacred you know cow for the uh for the uh left and already had consequences

imagine if jason aldean who wrote the song criticizing um try that in a small town try yeah the song try that in a small town imagine you saw you all know all the controversy around that song which no one from a small town can understand why there was controversy. But imagine if these accusations came out against white Jason Aldean, who's openly conservative, at least in terms of law enforcement. And somebody said he took his backup dancers to a sex club and made them perform sex acts this thing we wouldn't be debating this we would not be even talking about this one concert she's been canceled from Jason Aldean would not his career would be over you're absolutely right Sean can I absolutely right

let me just push back for a second I know like we I think generally I think that that that there's some truth to that. But I think the real the real protected? He's like a longtime Democrat who got away with marrying his adoptive daughter with a 40 year age gap. And people kind of talk about it, but he still has a career in Hollywood and it's okay. I also think about on the out, you know, I'll be dead. That's not fair. I mean, after me too, all that resurfaced and suddenly, and you're right, there were a lot of people who let it pass for many many decades um but or at least a few decades but uh the he is not he can't be in polite society anymore after me too okay so fine you don't want to use what do you want example let's let's go ahead but just let's let's be clear that he's not

living the life he used to lead but he did get away with it for a while okay let's let's be clear that he's not living the life he used to lead. But he did get away with it for a while. OK, let's talk about the guy, the guy who's responsible for for FTX and Bankman Freed, who got away as a straight white male, gets away with with charges, defrauding literally like thousands of people and mostly small time investors who who've lost sometimes, in some cases, everything over it, causing suicides for what this man has done. And then I'm thinking also about Jeffrey Epstein, who got away, another white straight man who got away with horrible, not just money laundering, but the exploitation of young girls and trafficking for years until it became untenable for for law enforcement to ignore. I think it has more to do with how useful you are to Democrats and the regime at large than it does

with really being black or what because because, you know, think about I think about, you know, Thomas, why am I? Oh, Clarence Thomas, who's who's who's a black man who checks that box off, but is completely destroyed by the left. I mean, battered every week with some horrible story about this poor man. And he's and he's, you know, as innocent as they get. Right. What was the famous line that he said? This is a high tech lynching. it doesn't those things really don't matter what matters is your utility to the left yeah i think you're right there's ideology probably yeah ideology definitely trumps there there's no no pun intended ideology

will is the most important factor but lizzo checks a lot of boxes and which is why she may be flailing in the wind right now. But I still think that dad's right. That had she not, had she not checked all those boxes, there would be no one waiting around to see the outcome of this, of this jury. It would,

the answer would be swift. We'll have more of this conversation after this. So let's move Evita to another topic because it's actually kind of related. So we did it. We had you want to talk about the Barbie movie, which you and I thought was deliciously fun for about a third of the movie and then was just a patriarchal man hating mess after and kind of ruined the fun. Well, Bill Maher has come out with his thoughts, who knew that Bill Maher was going to go watch Barbie. And Sean, do you want to read a little bit of what Bill Maher's review of Barbie is? And can I just say this? This has now passed, as I said before, a billion dollars in sales. Huge. Huge movie. I did not give any of my money

for the movie because I didn't go. And just to be clear, on this podcast, I did object, not to Rachel going, but a couple of our little girls went and it had to be deprogrammed after I objected to that. I did do the deprogramming. Rachel. I did. So if any of my conservative allies

want to light her up, they can. He's setting the mob off on me. So the Bill Marler review of barbie um which he saw i did not but in part what he said is spoiler alert barbie fights the patriarchy right into the mattel board who created her consisting of 12 white men so 12 white men in the movie the patriarchy except there is a mattel board in real life and it's seven men and five women okay not perfectly even steven but not i can't read this thing not even steven yeah not even

even really small print anyway you get it but the point is in the mattel movie bill morris pointed out they they barbie's gonna fight the mattel board of all men but in real life mattel does have a board and the Mattel board is split up seven men and five women. And it's a really good point. So they try to make all these male strong men arguments in the movie when in reality, again, I'll just look around my own life and say, hey, there's a lot of women in the places that I work or have worked that women are in charge. They're running stuff, yeah. And I know friends that are running,

are working at businesses that are run by women. And to say that men still run the world is an absolute fundamental lie. And to promote that even by saying the board of Mattel is made of men when that's 100% false is a bold-faced lie for the world. Right, he goes on to say, I was hoping it wouldn't be preachy man-hating and a hashtag zombie lie.

Alas, it was all three. And he kind of makes fun of the movie in an interesting way by saying, listen, was there a patriarchy at one point? Yes. But this movie feels so dated and out of touch with reality. And actually, that is how I felt.

I felt like I wanted to go back to barbie world and experience sort of the whole retro barbie thing and then they brought me into reality but the reality wasn't actually reality the reality was sort of you know i don't know circa he claims circa 2000 and too late you know late 2000 i would say circa 1980. I would say circa 1980, exactly. In fact, he points out in his thing that of the 449 board seats filled last year in the Fortune 500, 45% of them were filled by women. And the reality is, Evita, all of us know if there's a board seat available and me, you and Sean all have equal education and skill sets and experience. If I say I'm a gay Latina woman, the seat is mine. I mean, we all know the truth about this.

If you're a gay Latina woman with nine children, even better. I don't know. I actually think the nine kids for the liberals would work against me because... No, no, no. The nine kids makes me an... No, the nine kids makes me an eco-terrorist, for sure. And so now I've... Maybe I would actually not get the job because, you know, the anti-natalist left thinks I'm taking too much carbon up in this home. But in any case, we all get the joke, right, Evita? Right. And I've sat on it a few times. I've talked about it on TV. I've just seen the movie. And I got to tell you, what really bothers me the most about it is really what I learned in college, right? Because this whole idea that men rule the world, that women

are constantly being undercut, is annoying to inject into the Barbie movie, which was supposed to be really fun and also geared towards mothers and daughters. So it kind of just put a damper on the whole first two thirds of the film, which, like you said, were so sparkly and awesome. And what bothered me is if we're going to talk about discrimination in the workplace or just in American society at large, and this goes back to what I was saying before, it's all ideological. The amount of times that I have, because I ran a conservative newspaper in college, the amount of times that I had students come up to me and say, I want to write a story, but I want to be anonymous because I don't want my future employer to see that I was published in a conservative, dinky little college newspaper. Or the amount of times that I had people during COVID come up to me and say, you know, I want you

to write about this COVID experience that happened to me, but you have to blow out my face. You can't name my name because I don't want anybody to know that I wasn't actually following the COVID edicts. People are afraid. Oh, and then I had, even when I was in College Republicans, which was much more benign than our college newspaper, there were kids who would come to our meeting every week, but said, I'm sorry, I can't be in the picture at the end of the month because I don't want anybody to potentially see me and then it ruined my internship or job aspirations. That is real. People really are afraid to have their careers disrupted just because they're associated with conservative thinking. And so it really annoys me to talk about, to have this movie focus on it being about women, when in reality, it's about ideology. That is an excellent point.

That is an excellent point. It is about ideology. Sean, you were saying that you've been to her College Republicans. And we took a picture after when I spoke to her College Republicans. I was in Congress, and a couple of the kids would not get in the picture for that very reason. Howard! But here's what I also find interesting, Avita, is that all the little girls that go to that movie

who don't know the way the world works today walk away with a view of the patriarchy. And that as women, we have to fight for our equal place in society when they don't realize that actually there is an equal place, equal footing in our economic structure for women and men all to rise up equally. And maybe there's a leftist view to this where it's like, I need more little radical women out there to be part of the revolution.

To not just fight the patriarchy, but to fight capitalism and to help usher in a new system of government. You need, you know, revolutionaries to do that. And this is a way to get young girls to start the thought process through a very benign movie of sparkly little Barbie, but also with a message that your life can't be controlled by men. And by the way, you also may have to rethink, we talked about this before, but you have to rethink your life structure as a whole. And whether you should get married to a Ken doll or not, maybe marriage isn't best for you. Right. No, I definitely think there was.

Marrying men is better than marrying men. Right. I think you're spot on. I think, one, it gave people, it gave girls, young girls who don't know how corporate America works and how many opportunities are actually available to women at all points. And by the way, a lot of these little girls can feel it already in their elementary school where there's STEM for girls. Well, what about STEM for boys? There's just a lot of opportunities that are girl-centric already in elementary, junior high, high school that for some reason are not inclusive of boys. I mean, there are people writing entire books about the war on boys. And we've had many conversations on this podcast about how boys are now being discriminated in place of girls. So that for

sure is wrong. And I also think, obviously, this message was an anti-marriage, anti-man message. And in fact, Bill Maher talks about how it's man-hating. And anybody who has sons and watched that movie or loves their husband and watched that movie could see that all the men were either evil or stupid and pathetic. And in the end, Barbie decides she doesn't want to marry Ken. And she goes off into, you know, quote unquote, the real world to sort of find herself outside of the confines of Barbie land and marriage. And so we never get to see the, the Barbie, you know, wedding. Well, there was the Barbie wedding. I, you know, I told you this, that this is a big deal for me. I wanted the Barbie wedding, Ken and Barbie and, and eventually got it, but we, but we don't get to enjoy that because

marriage is a bad thing and women um and the patriarchy and and you know yes so there's all that part of it evita well i also just want to comment on what what other conservatives and then also what the left has been saying about our reaction to this right people that have had sort of a negative visceral reaction to the barbie movie they're like oh these conservatives they're freaking out over a stupid barbie movie it's supposed to be fun you know say look at how crazy they are look at how stupid they are and i and i'm hearing that both on the right and the left i think joe rogan said it literally yesterday that I can't understand this, this anger over the Barbie movie.

And let me explain for a second, because you're right. Like the Barbie movie, most of it wasn't about most of the film just in terms of time length. Right. It wasn't about all of this, this feminism and, and the patriarchy and whatnot.

But that's kind of what bothers me the most about the film is that it's wrapped up in this pink sparkly bow and in it is injected ideology that is really destructive. And because it's sort of subliminal, that makes it much more powerful and even more destructive. And so we talk about creating this false narrative that there is, you know, a patriarchy that's working against you. Well, one, that's a lie, right? Because I just told you the real discrimination is happening on an ideological basis, not based off of your sex or your sexual orientation or your gender or whatever. And then it's also lying to girls because this is the same problem with affirmative action. When you tell somebody that the world is set up against you, then they're going to go into the world with a really negative perspective, almost one that says, I can never win. I might as well just give up now. The same thing happens with Blacks and Hispanics when they're constantly told, oh, the system's rigged against you, which it's actually rigged for you, right? But they say the system's rigged against you, and then they constantly have this feeling that they can never get ahead. And then

if they do, they have this sense of inferiority, like it was only given to them because they're Black or Hispanic or because they're a woman. So it creates so many problems in society, not just for the white straight males that are getting excluded all the time, but also for for the psychology of these, you know, supposed protected classes that the film is supposed to be about. And I just it's really infuriating to me. And it's also annoying when people say, oh, you're you're you're blowing out of proportion because we're not these things, even when they're small and they're wrapped up in pretty pink sparkly bows, need to be pointed out and addressed and denounced with a lot of passion because otherwise they slide under the radar and poison our society. I think you're so spot on with that, Evita, that it is a very subversive movie in that regard. It's very subversive. And that's why, you know, Sean, when you criticize me And that's why, you know, Sean, when you criticize me for taking the kids, you know, you're right. I, you know, I just,

they're so Barbie obsessed. I knew they were going to watch it anyway. We might as well watch it together. And I was, I did try my best to try and unpack and, and, and deconstruct some of these negative messages about marriage and about life and about the patriarchy and about reality. And I think that that was all super important. And I think you're right. We are right to make a stink about it and not let this fly under the radar and let those messages take root with young, very impressionable little girls, 100% on that. I do want to say, I think the billion dollars, the real heroes of this movie was not this director who I think, Greta Gerwig, who I think is not as impressive as everybody thinks

she is. And this movie proves it, that she just spoiled the fun. But the true heroes and the true artists of this movie were the set designers, were the costume designers. By the way, Ryan Gosling was brilliant in his just embracing the role of Ken and what he had to work with there. The song, I'm Just Ken. I mean, there were some really amazing cultural, if you loved Barbie, you just had to smile, laugh. I mean, there were great moments in this film. No question about it, especially for the Barbie fan. But it is also equally important what you're pointing out, Evita, which is how subversive it was. Well, I think the conservatives today are at a point where they've been told to sit down, shut up, don't fight back, don't push

back, just accept this cultural revolution as it happens and it unfolds in your life and what you found maybe um since bud light or since the the target protests that they feel like they have a little more power and control and are willing to to comment on culture and get involved in the culture because they understand now more than ever that it's truly meaningful yeah impacts matters life um and so it's it's good on them so yeah you can make a complaint like joe rogan and say this is all fun and stop ruining the fun of barbie no there's a more serious war at play and it is for the war of the future and what our kids are going to believe and how they're going to be indoctrinated

and that's a fight worth fighting and so i think the wrong i I think the Rogans of the world are wrong on that. And I think we should be attentive to, I think this was Avita's point, to the smallest details of this cultural push to move us further to the left. And so good on conservatives for criticizing, critiquing and pushing back on the movie. And we need to get involved culturally.

I mean, we need to really encourage young people to go into the arts, to go into writing. Screenwriters and directors have so much power over culture. And you'll never make it there as a conservative. You need it. We need our own ecosystem, a hundred percent. And so what I want to see, and I've been really edified as well, Sean, in your list of things that conservatives have either pushed back on, but in this case, promoted and bought into, which was the Sound of Freedom movie, right? I mean, really defying what all the critics thought it could do in terms of the power of the money it's

making, but also the power of its message, fighting back on people trying to minimize what the message is, saying it was QAnon, even though it was actually written years before QAnon was even on the scene. By the way, just yesterday, Sean, you and I were talking about a raid that happened, a big FBI sting operation where, in fact, some FBI agents lost their lives rescuing children who had been caught up in sex trafficking and the arrest of a whole ring of pedophiles. So they say that it's QAnon and yet seeing these arrests happening. So it's not a lie. It's not your imagination. And this film is based on a real, legit problem.

But the next step is going beyond these kinds of topics and why isn't somebody who's maybe not just conservative, but even just fair-minded and not pushing a leftist ideology, directing a really mass appeal movie like Barbie. And now we see that Greta Gerwig, much to our horror, is now going to redo Narnia for Netflix, which I don't understand because the Narnia movies were so well done and so true to the Narnia books, which by the way, have a very Christian message. So now look

for the Marxist version of Narnia to go onto Netflix and all of our children. So it's not enough for them to create films that, you know, push their agenda. Now they're going to co-opt the beautiful classics that have Christian messages, and they're going to undermine those and retell those stories. Well, and they do it on purpose, right? I mean, Greta Gerwig also is directing the upcoming Snow White film. And I don't know if we talked about it on the podcast, but you and I talked about it, Mom, for sure,

where the young Snow White actress basically says, Snow White is going to be about Snow White becoming the leader that her father knew she could be because she's not going to be waiting around for a man, which is completely antithetical to the entire original and intended messaging behind Snow White. And they're doing it with Narnia too. Either they reject the stories and the cultural traditions that we have, or they repurpose them for Marxism. And that's what they're doing with Narnia. That's what they that's what they do with with that's what they're going to do with Snow White. And that's what they did with Barbie. How can we take that profit off of the popularity and also inject our own subversive Marxist messaging? And by the way, feminism is an offshoot of Marxism, right? It's all identity politics and identity politics is has usurped the the working class versus the upper class dichotomy that you had in the older forms of Marxism.

Yeah. Interesting. These are important conversations. Our culture is important. And these movies are a big part of our culture. And who makes the movies, who remakes the movies truly matters. And what dumb conservative moms go and buy tickets like Rachel did. I couldn't resist Barbie.

But I did, to be fair, I watched the movie with Evita, with our three of our other daughters. Was it three of them? No, four of them, right? Was it all of those girls that went? No, Lucia wasn't there, plus a neighbor. And so we all went, but we had a very long conversation in the car on the ride home where we talked to them about the importance of marriage the

the need that women have and men have for each other um and and and really how upset we were that ken and barbie didn't end up getting married. Yeah, they didn't get married. Oh, well, good gravy. By the way, just one of several, several, several of our listeners actually wrote and gave you a hard time. Yeah, they did. It's a fair criticism. Listen, to be fair to the girls really want to see it. And again, if you are going to take your kids, you do have to unpack it for them, which you did on the way home with a VitaSup as well. So listen, I was just going to say, oh, sorry. Yeah. Well, I was just going to say, you know, when we talk about the bar movie and having mom make the decision to go see it, you and then actually have a conversation with all of us about it afterward. You have to do, if you're sending your kid to a regular school, even if it's a Catholic school,

you have to do that every day. Every day at the dinner table, you have to sit them down and be like, okay, what'd you learn? How can I reprogram you? I mean, that's just, that's just life in 2023 or 2022 or whatever, you know? Yeah. And by the way, the decision to go to Barbie was a hard rock one. I mean, like it was just like them constantly bugging me also curious. I love Barbie. Um, and then make a decision. We're going to go with Evita and we're going to kind of break down the messages and enjoy the good parts. But also, you know, at some point,

we are part of the culture. This is happening. We can't put our heads in the sand and pretend that they're not going to watch it somehow in some way. And so we did that. But that said, I think you're right, Evita. Unless you're sending your kids to a classical school,

you're probably going to have to be doing daily deprogramming anyway. And Sean's always talking about that. All right, well, Evita, it's great conversation. Thank you so much for helping us to break down the gross Lizzo story. And we'll follow up and see how that turns out. But also the follow-up on the movie, on the Barbie movie, which is indeed anti-man.

We do these topics every 10 hours and presses your father and how thoughtful you are on unpacking these stories. So as a proud dad, thanks for joining us at the kitchen table. Hopefully soon we'll be in person with you as you enjoy the cabin, and we don't. Yeah, she's out in Wisconsin enjoying the cabin while we're here working. But anyway, we love you, Evita. Thanks a lot. Yes, everyone. Thank you for joining our podcast.

Thank you, Evita. If you like the podcast, you can rate, review, subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts. We'd appreciate that. You get a notice every time our podcast drop, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Again, you can always find us at foxnewspodcast.com. Until next time. You can find us on Apple.

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