Ted Cruz Goes After Barbie, Accuses New Movie of ‘Pushing CCP Propaganda’ After Film Was Banned in Vietnam

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Texas Senator and part-time podcaster Ted Cruz changed his focus over the weekend from covering the Biden family to going after a beloved children’s toy – Barbie — and, more specifically, the upcoming film about the iconic doll.

Vietnam reportedly banned the release of the highly-anticipated Barbie film starring Margot Robbie after a scene in the movie shows China’s claimed territory in the South China Sea on a map, known as the nine-dash line. Parts of the territory within the line are also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines. State media announced the film’s ban on Monday.

Cruz, in a statement to the Daily Mail, denounced the film and accused the studio behind it of “pushing Chinese propaganda.”

The statement read:

Senator Cruz has been fighting for years to prevent American companies, especially Hollywood studios, from altering and censoring their content to appease the Chinese Communist Party.

China wants to control what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think, and they leverage their massive film markets to coerce American companies into pushing CCP propaganda—just like the way the Barbie film seems to have done with the map. Sen. Cruz deserves credit for reversing these trends.

The statement also referenced a rule passed by Cruz in 2022 under the SCRIPT Act, which saw the Pentagon refuse to work with Hollywood directors who were abiding by Chinese censorship guidelines.

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