Glen Powell has stood up for Ryan Gosling after an anonymous producer said that the Twisters actor is more appealing to men and women than the Barbie star.
Powell’s stardom is on a meteoric rise at the moment, having recently starred in films such as Anyone But You, Hit Man and the soon-to-be-released Chad Powers. Gosling has been a Hollywood star for decades now, receiving critical acclaim for his role in movies like La La Land, Drive and The Notebook.
Now an unnamed Hollywood producer has compared the two actors when speaking to The Wrap for an article published on August 26. He said that, unlike Gosling, Powell appeals to both men and women—but the latter doesn’t agree.
Newsweek emailed spokespeople for Powell and Gosling on Thursday.
Brett Deering/Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment/WireImage
“Glen Powell is most definitely an up-and-coming movie star in the sense that audiences now go to movies to see him,” the producer told the publication.
“Unlike an actor like Ryan Gosling, whose appeal is mostly limited to female audiences, Glen appeals to both females and males.”
The quote was shared to X (formerly Twitter) on August 27 by the account @OneTakeNews, which is how Powell came across it.
The actor reshared the post and added: “Gosling is a legend. I’m just Glen.”
His comment was a call back to the song “I’m Just Ken,” which was performed by Gosling for the Barbie movie. At the time of writing, Powell’s post had been viewed almost 20 million times.
Powell’s response has been praised by people online, with actor Simu Liu writing: “Niccccccce.”
Someone else wrote: “humble considerate King, this is why you’ll always be famous.”
“I have a man crush on both Glen and Ryan so I’m not sure who wrote this article but they’re wrong. We love both of them. And they should be in a buddy cop movie together,” a third person commented.
Another added: “Two great people can coexist. Commendable standing up for Ryan.”
This isn’t the only time Powell has gone viral in recent months. In May, he shocked internet users when he shared a gruesome story about a first date—but it turned out to be an urban legend.
Appearing on the Therapuss With Jake Shane podcast, the Hollywood actor told a story about a friend of his younger sister going on a first date. She claimed to have gone back to the man’s apartment, where he proceeded to give her a massage. Starting to feel uncomfortable, she left the apartment in a hurry, and eventually found out that he had used a “black market lotion that breaks down skin for human consumption.”
While many people were shocked and disgusted by Powell’s story, others wondered if he had perhaps fallen for a lie. Following the online conversation surrounding Powell’s tale, the actor shared a link to a BuzzFeed article that revealed he had fallen for an urban legend.
“Props to my little sister’s friend who told her this dating story…I’ve been telling this for years. I’m questioning my whole life now…” Powell posted to X, taking it on the chin. “False alarm. Back rubs are back.”
At the time of writing, his post had been viewed more than 3.3 million times.
The BuzzFeed article referred to Snopes, a fact-checking website that researches urban legends, rumors and misinformation; it said stories like Powell’s are a “years-old urban legend.”