Warner Apologizes to Warner Japan for ‘Barbenheimer’ Meme Backlash

In-fighting at Warner Bros. has the studio formally apologizing to its WB counterparts in Japan, who’re outraged about what they see as an insensitive Barbenheimer meme on the U.S. “Barbie” Twitter account.

So, this is the deal … “Barbie” is a WB film, and the movie’s official U.S. Twitter account replied to some fan-created enjoyable artwork of Margot Robbie (as Barbie) using Cillian Murphy‘s shoulder (as Oppenheimer) with an explosion and fireplace within the background.

It is a Barbenheimer gag clearly, and seemingly harmless by itself … that’s, till the U.S. “Barbie” Twitter account chimed in with the remark, “It may be a summer time to recollect,” including some cutesy emojis as well.

That did not sit effectively with people in WB’s Japanese arm — the official Japanese “Barbie” Twitter account blasted its mum or dad firm for co-signing on the joking atomic bomb imagery.

It wrote, “We take into account it extraordinarily regrettable that the official account of the American headquarters for the film ‘Barbie’ reacted to the social media postings of ‘Barbenheimer’ followers. We take this example very severely. We’re asking the U.S. headquarters to take acceptable motion. We apologize to those that have been offended by this sequence of thoughtless reactions. Warner Bros Japan.”

Yep, that is an enormous yikes. 😬

So, in response to that public call-out, Warner issued its mea culpa — “Warner Brothers regrets its latest insensitive social media engagement. The studio affords a honest apology.”

BTW, Twitter/X itself did not discover the imagery very amusing, as a result of the corporate really slapped a truth test Twitter word beneath — mentioning the lots of of 1000’s of Japanese deaths that resulted from the U.S.’s resolution to drop bombs throughout WWII.

There’s been lots of chatter about ‘Oppenheimer’ and its dealing with of the depiction of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings — particularly, the actual fact the film does not present it by any means. Some really feel just like the movie glossed over the impression of the bombings … and have discovered it insensitive to the numerous lives misplaced in Japan.

That seems to be the place of Japan as a nation, too … as a result of it has but to set a launch date for the movie inside its borders.