Ryan Gosling leads ‘I’m Just Ken’ sing-along at 2024 Oscars

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Ryan Gosling led an electrifying sing-along of his Barbie anthem “I’m Just Ken” — nominated for Best Original Song — at the 2024 Academy Awards with some special guests. Fellow Ken actors Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, and Kingsley Ben-Adir hit the Dolby Theatre stage in Los Angeles for the first live performance of the song — as did Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, who also just so happens to be featured on the track.

Gosling’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes-style performance began in his seat, right behind Margot Robbie (the Barbie to his Ken), before he made his way to the stage. In the sing-along portion, director Greta Gerwig, costar Robbie, and Poor Things nominee Emma Stone all belted out the Ken ballad, while the cameramen also donned cowboy hats in celebration of the stage’s transformation into the Kendom.

On the red carpet with E! ahead of the performance, producer and songwriter Mark Ronson (who also joined Gosling on stage) teased that it would be an “absolutely bananas spectacle.” “We’re only ever gonna get to to perform this song maybe once with Ryan,” he said.

Gerwig’s summer blockbuster earned eight nominations at the ceremony on Sunday night, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for Gosling, and Best Supporting Actress for America Ferrera.

Fellow Barbie collaborators Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell took home the Best Original Song award for the ballad “What Was I Made For?” Nominees included Becky G (“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot); Jon Batiste (“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony); and Scott George and the Osage Singers (“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon).

During EW’s Barbie Around the Table alongside his director and costars, Gosling said he tapped into his child actor roots to fully embody a musical Ken, including his Mouseketeer past. (Gosling was a cast member on Disney Channel’s The All New Mickey Mouse Club in the early ’90s, performing alongside the likes of pre-pop stars Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera.)

“At a certain point I thought I had left that kid behind, and I realized that I needed his help to make this movie,” Gosling said. “So I had to go back and make peace with him and ask for his help. It was good for me.”

He credited Gerwig for helping him step fully into the Kendom. “It was like, at one moment I was a human male in my backyard picking up a Ken doll, and then somehow magically I had become that doll and I was being picked up by Greta Gerwig, and the only way to become human again was to just follow her very specific directions.”

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