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Twitter users erupt as commentator Steven Crowder mocks Down syndrome Barbie
Live Action News ^ | April 27, 2023 | Cassy Fiano-Chesser

Posted on 04/27/2023 8:09:09 PM PDT by Morgana

Days after Mattel announced their first ever Barbie with Down syndrome, a self-described pro-life conservative political commentator released a video on Twitter mocking the doll. Social media users quickly reacted with outrage.

In the video posted to Twitter, Steven Crowder and his co-hosts can be heard snickering and laughing over an Inside Edition feature promoting the doll. “With r*tard strength!” they can be heard saying over the promo, adding, “Is this real? This is real.” They continued to laugh as model Ellie Goldstein, who has Down syndrome, appeared holding one of the Down syndrome Barbies.

“Well, here’s the thing, they really have been going full-bore,” Crowder said, directly facing the camera. “Mattel actually announced plans to expand this, in the name of diversity before the end of the year, with sickle cell Barbie. So that’s something. Look, everyone’s involved! Down syndrome Barbie. Short bus not included! Did she have to say ‘smash through barriers’ when we all know about special needs strength? She doesn’t look that Downs-y! It looks like Amy Schumer Barbie. Now with more r*tard! Professional assistant not included.

Yet the reaction on social media was overwhelmingly negative. “This Barbie is a win for a conservative culture. Why? Because it humanizes a group of *human beings* the other side thinks we should just abort,” conservative columnist Ian Hayworth tweeted. “Instead, he’s ‘joking’ about ‘r*tard strength.’ Gee, I wonder why we’re losing this battle?”

“This is pathetic and heartless. Shame on you,” another Twitter user replied, while another conservative user tweeted, “I actually love this. @Mattel did something good for society by making this doll.”

A Catholic father of seven replied with a heartbreaking photo of his daughter with Down syndrome, who passed away as an infant. “Hey Steven, this is my child,” he tweeted. “Maggie would’ve been 3 next month. She died of the heart failure caused by the Down Syndrome you’re so callously mocking. She deserved every ounce of dignity you and the pro-aborts deny people like her every day. Repent.”

Frank Fleming, a scripted creator for the Daily Wire, also responded with a Twitter thread to the controversy. Fleming has a son with Down syndrome.

“I don’t think I’ll watch the Crowder sketch on the Down Syndrome Barbie and just take everyone’s word it was bad,” he said. “At the heart of our society is the intensely religious notion of equality — that despite our physical differences, each person is of equal and immeasurable value. It is unprovable, but it is True. This is not an easy notion to grasp with. It does not come naturally. It something we struggle with now and will in the future. But it’s central to concepts such as human rights.”

He continued, “When we make exceptions to who matters — to whom we value — it all starts to fall apart. One of the saddest things I’ve ever heard was of countries that have come close to eliminating Down Syndrome (and we know what that means). We have to be better than that.”

He concluded by pointing out that more representation of people with Down syndrome is a positive, not something to be mocked.

“I’m happy Mattel made a Down Syndrome Barbie,” he said. “I’m happy there one of the Lost Boys in the new Peter Pan has Down Syndrome. We need to embrace the beauty in this world, or we ourselves will be less human.”


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: barbie; crowdermocks; downsyndrome; mocks; mocksdownsyndrome; prolife; sicklecellbarbie; trisomy21; trusttrig
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To: Morgana

They are right about one thing: the doll doesn’t look very “Downsy.”


21 posted on 04/27/2023 8:32:50 PM PDT by montag813
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To: Blurb2350

Is that real?


22 posted on 04/27/2023 8:33:20 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
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To: lee martell

No, it is never good to poke fun at the condition of these people. I am very sad to know that Crowder did this.


23 posted on 04/27/2023 8:35:15 PM PDT by alstewartfan ("She looks like she's 19 years old, sitting there like a lady with her legs crossed." Creepy Joe)
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To: Morgana

Down syndrome people have always brought happiness in my life, every one of them I have met, even one always grumpy classmate through school who I secretly protected for years until everyone matured some, and some of them I have never forgotten.

I have felt a little guilty because I don’t know how difficult they might be for their families and for their parents, but speaking for my selfish self, I am really glad they are around.


24 posted on 04/27/2023 8:35:33 PM PDT by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
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To: No name given

>What’s next, illegal alien barbie?!

Most assuredly, then amputee barbie etc...


25 posted on 04/27/2023 8:36:22 PM PDT by nevadapatriot
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To: No name given
What's next, illegal alien barbie?!

Come on man! You know as well as I do exactly what is coming next. And Crowder better not make fun of what is next or real fur will fly!

Barbie Trans Edition |  Trans Edition; 3+; An all new Glamorous Agenda; For ages | image tagged in lgbtq,transgender,social justice,democratic socialism,hasbro,barbie | made w/ Imgflip meme maker

26 posted on 04/27/2023 8:38:26 PM PDT by fireman15 (Irritating people are the grit from which we fashion our pearl. I provide the grit. You're Welcome.)
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To: cableguymn

Any one of us could have a stroke tomorrow and suffer diminshed intellect. We are the same as them. Rick Santorum has a daughter Bella from whom he has received so much joy. Not Downs but similar.


27 posted on 04/27/2023 8:40:09 PM PDT by alstewartfan ("She looks like she's 19 years old, sitting there like a lady with her legs crossed." Creepy Joe)
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To: Morgana

I can think that a diverse style of a doll is very useful. No one is saying their kid HAS to play with it. They still make a traditional Barbie.

For the small group of kids who can play with a toy that looks like them, or their sister, this is a big win. And who doesn’t want to make kids happy?

There is a propensity for people to knee jerk comment about anything different. In this case, they are wrong.


28 posted on 04/27/2023 8:41:14 PM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: No name given
I was probably too hard on you... this is another possibility for what is next.

Pin on Repurpose, recycle, reuse

29 posted on 04/27/2023 8:45:13 PM PDT by fireman15 (Irritating people are the grit from which we fashion our pearl. I provide the grit. You're Welcome.)
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To: fireman15

Now does that come with pretend Bud Light?


30 posted on 04/27/2023 8:45:37 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

I was in a men’s meeting and a young man with Down’s Syndrome stood up and talked about something completely off topic.

We later broke into small discussion groups. Every man in my group identified some trait this young man has that they wished they had. It was a spontaneous discussion, but they were all sincere.


31 posted on 04/27/2023 8:49:39 PM PDT by gitmo
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To: Vermont Lt
There is a propensity for people to knee jerk comment about anything different. In this case, they are wrong.

I have plenty of experience taking care people with downs syndrome and other cognitive issues. My wife spent most of her career working at multilevel care facilities and I volunteered at all of them. When I was a kid my mom's best friend from work had a downs syndrome kid and he stayed with us frequently. I have knee jerk reactions to shameless virtue signaling by big corporations and others. And that is what this is plain and simple. All the sniping at Crowder is mostly from virtue signaling persons who are just jumping on the bandwagon. I don't buy any of it.

32 posted on 04/27/2023 8:56:21 PM PDT by fireman15 (Irritating people are the grit from which we fashion our pearl. I provide the grit. You're Welcome.)
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To: Vermont Lt
I can think that a diverse style of a doll is very useful.

LONG before "Black Lives Matter" and all the politics, I saw where toy makers were adding Black dolls to their line, and it really made me think about generations of Black kids who had played with dolls that looked nothing like them. It was a great move, I think, by the toy companies. They did it because they understood, not for money or to be politically correct.

33 posted on 04/27/2023 8:56:33 PM PDT by JennysCool ("It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." - Mark Twain)
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To: Morgana

Glad I don’t listen to him

Just a big no thanks


34 posted on 04/27/2023 8:56:38 PM PDT by Nifster ( I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: Morgana

I watched the sketch. It was not insensitive. It just poked fun at the ridiculousness of it. They even did a spoof called Sickle Cell Barbie. Perhaps Mattel can introduce Cancer Barbie or Mastectomy Barbie. Virtual signaling is getting out of control.


35 posted on 04/27/2023 8:57:51 PM PDT by Right Brother
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To: dila813

I don’t know any guys who talk about Barbie dolls. End of story


36 posted on 04/27/2023 8:57:56 PM PDT by Nifster ( I see puppy dogs in the clouds )
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To: alstewartfan
Any one of us could have a stroke tomorrow and suffer diminshed intellect.

Yes, although in that case, I think we'd be more like Steven Crowder.

The number of straight-up @ssholes parading around out there, pretending to be "social conservatives," is astounding. It helps to give "social conservatism" a bad (but apparently deserved) name.

37 posted on 04/27/2023 9:00:01 PM PDT by DSH
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To: lee martell

Adult entertainment, we are supposed to be mature enough to know the context


38 posted on 04/27/2023 9:00:33 PM PDT by dila813
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To: Nifster

Sorry for you


39 posted on 04/27/2023 9:01:34 PM PDT by dila813
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To: Jamestown1630

That’s why he is loved, his brand is inappropriateness, he just touched you


40 posted on 04/27/2023 9:05:16 PM PDT by dila813
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