Pop Culture Fix: Kate McKinnon’s Safety Scissors Haircut Barbie Is My New Favorite Doll

Ding dong! Did someone here order a fresh and tasty Pop Culture Fix?


+ The Barbie movie dropped new character posters with a teaser trailer yesterday, and there sure are some queers in it! Kate McKinnon as a broken Barbie — with a safety-scissor hair cut, and markers all over her face, and a thoroughly disjointed leg — is my personal favorite. Like yes, American Girl Dolls are gay, but this is GAY GAY. She actually kind of looks like Tammy Lynn Michaels’ Lacey from The L Word pilot episode; you know, Shane’s first official stalker?

+ Yellowjackets showrunners talking about how you have to “earn” cannibalism. I can’t watch this show because I’m a scaredy-baby but I sure do love the headlines!

+ Mae Martin’s got a new series coming to Netflix! It’s called Tall Pines and it’s a “mystery thriller set in a bucolic, yet sinister town.” That sure does sound right up Autostraddle’s alley!

+ Brandi Carlile will be co-producing another Tanya Tucker album; this one’s called Sweet Western Sound.

+ Boygenius is here to blunt whatever life throws our way.

+ This was my favorite bit of pop culture news this week.

+ Rachel Weisz says Dead Ringers was a mindfuck to film.

+ Cruel Intentions TV show to happen for real this time, no seriously.

+ Melanie Lynskey wouldn’t mind doing a The Last of Us origin season.

+ This look inside the decision-making process at Amazon Studios is as maddening as you’re guessing it will be.

+ The Mamas are back on Good Trouble this week!

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

19 Comments

  1. I’m shocked by how excited I am for the Barbie movie, even before i knew Kate McKinnon was in it! The 2001 A Space Odyssey teaser was really fun, and the more I see the more excited i get

  2. When I was little my dads sister sent me a box of vintage 80s barbies and I can personally vouch that by the time I got through with them at least a quarter of them held a resemblance to Barbie Kate McKinnon. Another portion of them had their limbs broken off. My brother made this hole in his bedroom by punching the wall so many times so I used to drop their plastic limbs and heads in it and have the other non broken dolls walk past and say “beware. That is the pit of doom. You don’t want to wind up in there.”

      • ok, but if you google her name and his, there only seems to be stuff about her attendance to that. so, she doesn’t seem to be talking about him now.

        and she sang at nashville pride last year, so while a bummer, there’s probably more nuance here than just one fact. hoping i’m not wrong…

        • Yeah, I saw that she sang at Nashville Pride, and she seems to be working with Brandi Carlile a lot so probably isn’t full MAGA, or at least not vocal about it. But it’s still disappointing that she chose to attend the inauguration when she could have just… not.

  3. I wish I cared about any of the male love interests on Good Trouble but I never do. With the exception of maybe Dennis and sometimes Gael. I have outright LOATHED a few of them and that especially includes Evan. Can we give Marianna anybody else? It has been seasons of this.

  4. That Amazon Studios article was really fascinating, thank you so much for sharing it! I love deep dives into things like that (even though, as you say, the conclusions are…not good)

Contribute to the conversation...

Yay! You've decided to leave a comment. That's fantastic. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated by the guidelines laid out in our comment policy. Let's have a personal and meaningful conversation and thanks for stopping by!