Ryan Gosling Becomes New Meme During ‘I’m Just Ken’ Win at Critics Choice Awards
On Sunday, Ryan Gosling attended the 2024 Critics’ Choice Awards, where he was nominated for his Barbie movie track “I’m Just Ken” for best song. The actor seemed stunned when he actually won, and the camera caught his confused glance at the news. As whenever a celebrity makes a funny face on camera, he was soon a popular internet meme.
At the moment when presenters Bella Ramsey and Anthony Ramos announced the winner, Gosling raised his eyebrows and look back and forth as though giving the entire room the side eye. Technically, the award wasn’t for Gosling, but for writers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, who took the stage to accept the award. Gosling stood to applaud, shaking his head in disbelief.
During his acceptance speech, Ronson shouted out the actor, saying, “Ryan Gosling, this is as much your award as ours. You made the audience fall in love with this song with your matchless performance, so thank you.”
He went on to thank director Greta Gerwig, who was seated at the same table as Gosling, declaring, “The fact that you carved out 11 minutes for this prog-rock, power-ballad, dream-ballet, shred fest so the boys could cry and hold hands a little too, we’re really forever in your debt for that.”
Fans were quick to use the gif of Gosling’s facial expressions, but they also had fun drawing comparisons to the moment and joking about what was going on in his mind when his song won those accolades.
The tune was actually up against two other songs from the Barbie soundtrack, Barbie: The Album. There was Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” Other nominees included The Super Mario Bros. Movie song “Peaches,” Lenny Kravitz’s “Road to Freedom” from Rustin, and the Julia Michaels’ “This Wish” from Disney’s Wish.
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.