Will Ferrell has ruffled some feathers online with his comments at an event celebrating women.
The Elf actor gave a speech at the recent Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment gala, where he said "women should just run the planet."
"This is such a wonderful event where we honor and support and continue to fight for women in all facets of the entertainment world," said Ferrell.
"Forget about the entertainment world, isn't it just time? Isn't it just time for women to run the planet?" he asked as the audience cheered loudly.
"I'm not just trying to placate you, I swear, but I don't know what else to do because we— men—we've been running the show since, what, 10,000 B.C., and we're not doing so good. So, please, can you guys just take over?"
@hollywoodreporter #willferrell jokes that women should run the planet at this year's #womeninentertainment gala
♬ original sound - The Hollywood Reporter - The Hollywood Reporter
He then turned his attention to actress Kerry Washington who played a fictional U.S. president in the TV series Scandal.
"Kerry, you've always been amazing in everything you've ever done and an incredible advocate for so many different things. Can you just run for president? Please? We'll pay you. We'll do a GoFundMe right in this room and we'll launch you," Ferrell joked.
The actor's comments come during a phenomenal year for women's entertainment. Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, is the highest-grossing film of the year and both Taylor Swift and Beyonce shattered records with their world tours.
In fact, Swift managed to break the Guinness World Record for the highest-grossing tour of all time for her Eras tour, which is projected to generate close to $5 billion in consumer spending in the U.S. alone.
But some people did not see the humor in Ferrell's speech, with some labeling it as "woke."
"Elf is my favorite Christmas movie and Will Ferrell is ruining it with his gay wokeness," wrote self-described Christian activist Morgan Ariel on X, formerly Twitter. Ferrell has been married to Swedish actress Viveca Paulin since 2000.
Another person wrote: "I've never been a fan of self-deprecating virtue signaling. Both sexes contribute a lot to humanity and to pretend otherwise is to do a disservice to the sexes."
Newsweek has contacted Ferrell's representatives by email for comment.
But American reporter Yashar Ali, took aim at conservatives not happy with Ferrell and who had called him gay.
"It's always fascinating to me how much conservatives love to make fun of liberal sensitivity. They'll do parodies of liberals needing trigger warnings for everything and canceling people for everything," he wrote on X.
"But if you look at what conservatives lose their minds over, they're just as they describe liberals."
Ali added: "This is one of many examples. Will Ferrell says a few words about it being time for women to be in charge at a lunch, and all of a sudden, 'he's a homosexual!! My favorite movie is now ruined forever because Will Ferrell is a homo!'
"My god," Ali concluded.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more
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