Warner Bros. Film Group has apologized for its “insensitive” social media activity regarding Barbenheimer after the studio’s Japan branch criticized its U.S. counterpart for engaging in “inconsiderate” reactions to memes featuring atom bomb images.
“Warner Brothers regrets its recent insensitive social media engagement. The studio offers a sincere apology,” the company said in a statement issued to Deadline, with the outlet also noting that the studio appears to be deleting the offending tweets from the platform in response to the recent backlash.
These swift actions from the studio follow Warner Bros. Japan’s statement condemning the U.S. Barbie Twitter account for publishing what the company described as “extremely regrettable” tweets in reaction to Barbenheimer memes, with many people accusing the posts of trivializing nuclear war with their imagery.
One tweet featured a fan-made Barbenheimer poster with Margot Robbie’s Barbie smiling atop Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy’s shoulders while a nuclear explosion looms behind them. The U.S. Barbie Twitter account commented, “It’s going to be a summer to remember,” followed by a kiss-blowing emoji and two hearts.
Twitter (now known as X) added a community note to the original post highlighting the historical context of the image. “At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945 (Showa 20), an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima for the first time in human history,” the note said. “The particular nature of the damage caused by the atomic bombs is that mass destruction and mass murder occurred instantaneously and indiscriminately.”
As more viral images emerged connecting the beloved children’s toy to weapons of mass destruction, the #NoBarbenheimer hashtag started trending. Users opposed the meme-ification of Barbie and Oppenheimer and criticized Barbie’s marketing team for sharing insensitive posts making light of a historic tragedy.
The Barbie movie remains set for an August 11 release in Japan. However, Oppenheimer does not yet have a release date in Japan, despite debuting worldwide on July 21. Universal Pictures, the company handling the distribution of the film, has still not confirmed or denied plans for the period piece to release in the country.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.