Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is attacking children’s characters again, this time: it’s Barbie.
As many fans are excited about the highly anticipated Barbie movie, Cruz has taken a different stance. He explained in a recent interview that a crayon-drawn map shown in the film’s trailer is “Chinese communist propaganda.”
“I mean it’s really a very simple cartoon, and so they have this block-ish thing that is called Asia and then they draw on what are called the ‘nine dashes’ which is — this is Chinese communist propaganda,” Cruz told The Daily Signal. “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’re trying to take it away from their neighbors there. “
Cruz then went on to say that China doesn’t “have any rights to access that water” and that China’s “claim” to the South China Sea is “blatantly false.”
“Well the stupid little cartoon man has the nine dashes drawn on there, and they did it for one purpose and one purpose only, to kiss up to the Chinese communist sensors,” Cruz continued. “And I gotta say that is shameful.”
During the interview, Cruz also took time to promote his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, and said that they did a “whole show” on Barbie.
He later added, “The press likes to mock this and be like, ‘Oh, come on, why are you talking about something like Barbie?’ Because Hollywood letting the Chinese communists dictate what is in American films is a real threat, and we need to call them out.”
Cruz isn’t the only one who has a problem with the Barbie map, though, as Vietnam banned the entire film altogether, also due to the South China Sea area of the map.
Last year, Cruz also targeted Elmo from Sesame Street and said that the lovable red Muppet was “aggressively advocating” for vaccinations for children under five years old.
Cruz’s most famous moment though is reading from Green Eggs And Ham during a Senate debate.
