Cruz Claims Barbie Movie Is “Chinese Propaganda”

“There’s a scene in ‘Barbie,’ where there is this map of the world, and it’s drawn like with crayon. I mean, it’s really a very simple cartoon. And so they have this blockish thing that is called ‘Asia.’ And then they’ve drawn what are called the nine-dashes. This is Chinese communist propaganda in which the Chinese are asserting sovereignty over the entirety of the South China Sea. And they don’t have any right to it under international law, but they are trying to take it away from their neighbors there.” – Ted Cruz, speaking to the Heritage Foundation.

The Insider reports:

The map Cruz referred to was featured in a screenshot from Barbie that included Margot Robbie and went viral in July, leading to Vietnam banning the movie.

The image in question shows a crude map of the world, created with colorful ink or crayon. Barbie stands in front of it and an outline of land can be seen, labeled “Asia.” There are eight dashes coming out of “Asia” drawn in the sea.

“The map in Barbie Land is a whimsical, child-like crayon drawing,” Warner Bros. said. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the real world. It was not intended to make any type of statement.”

I spent part of the morning reply guying policy peoples questions about Vietnam banning the Barbie movie with the nine dash line map with this image of the map pic.twitter.com/oqJ91HJVUh

— Lmao gan ma (@rzhongnotes) July 3, 2023

Ted says the Barbie movie is brainwashing young girls with Chinese propaganda. pic.twitter.com/81kR4CKKV2

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 16, 2023