Conservative commentator Steven Crowder drew backlash Thursday after mocking the newly released Down syndrome Barbie.
Toy company Mattel debuted its first-ever Down Syndrome Barbie on Tuesday to give children an “opportunity to play with more inclusive dolls,” according to an Inside Edition report.
Crowder mocked the Inside Edition video on his show, “Louder With Crowder.”
“This doll is breaking barriers—” Barbie Senior Vice President and Head of Design Kim Culmone said in the video, at which point Crowder interjected, “Yeah! With retard strength!”
“On no, oh no,” a co-host said when the video showed a model with Down syndrome holding the doll.
Crowder then joked that Mattel would soon introduce a Barbie with sickle cell anemia, a disease primarily associated with African Americans. The “Louder With Crowder” host then displayed a graphic of a black-skinned doll standing outside a Planned Parenthood clinic surrounded by babies of various skin tones.
Mattel launches Down syndrome Barbie. https://t.co/DMUOlo5mYq pic.twitter.com/KyOzIcGozH
— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) April 26, 2023
Social media users, including fellow conservatives, criticized Crowder for mocking the doll. Arc Digital editor-in-chief Berny Belvedere called Crowder a “ghoul” in a tweet denouncing the comments.
“Steven Crowder, whose most passionate belief is that a woman should never be able to free herself from the indignity of being married to him, is laughing hysterically at the very thought of people with Down syndrome. Absolute ghoul,” he wrote, referencing Crowder’s recent revelation that his wife filed for divorce in 2021.
Steven Crowder, whose most passionate belief is that a woman should never be able to free herself from the indignity of being married to him, is laughing hysterically at the very thought of people with Down syndrome. Absolute ghoul. https://t.co/TwTSuIAV1h
— Berny Belvedere (@bernybelvedere) April 27, 2023
“I find it very revealing when someone makes those with Down syndrome the butt of their jokes,” Daily Signal senior reporter and former Daily Caller News Foundation social issues reporter Mary Margaret Olohan tweeted Thursday.
I find it very revealing when someone makes those with Down syndrome the butt of their jokes. https://t.co/kiRL4Kpver
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 27, 2023
“I keep watching this video and somehow the skit just keeps getting worse, somehow, even when you think it can’t. This is heinous, and how anyone allowed this segment to see the light of day is beyond me — and beyond reason,” Fox News editor Emily Zanotti posted.
I keep watching this video and somehow the skit just keeps getting worse, somehow, even when you think it can’t. This is heinous, and how anyone allowed this segment to see the light of day is beyond me — and beyond reason. https://t.co/iozkJi6Z4H
— Emily Zanotti 🦝 (@emzanotti) April 27, 2023
So, just to make sure I’ve got this
To abort a child with Down syndrome is a crime against God, humanity, and several states
A Barbie doll that acknowledges the existence of adults with Down as people who can be functional adults is something to be mocked
Is that right? https://t.co/PeeZCHbHbn
— Jen Monroe (@thatjenmonroe) April 27, 2023
Crowder ridiculing the introduction of Down Syndrome Barbie tells you all you need to know (and probably already did know!) about him. It’s not pro-life but it is vile, dudebro “conservatism.” Despicable. https://t.co/Dxu8fSUphN
— Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) April 27, 2023
This is gross. Christianity sees every human as being made in the image of God and possessing full value and dignity. A a reflexively reactionary conservativism without Christianity will become as toxic as the progressivism it seeks to oppose. https://t.co/enr5mMTsro
— Daniel Darling (@dandarling) April 27, 2023
The Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh said the dolls are “pro-life” rather than “woke.” (RELATED: ‘My Deepest Personal Failure’: Steven Crowder Announces He’s In Process Of Divorcing His Wife)
“I know some conservatives are calling this “woke” but I don’t see it that way. It’s pro-life,” Walsh tweeted. “The Left is exterminating Down syndrome children. They are the victims of an actual eugenics campaign. This is one case where ‘inclusion and representation’ actually is important. Obviously Mattel didn’t intend for this to be pro-life, but we should embrace it that way. Take a cultural win even if it wasn’t supposed to be a cultural win for us.”
Obviously Mattel didn’t intend for this to be pro-life, but we should embrace it that way. Take a cultural win even if it wasn’t supposed to be a cultural win for us.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) April 27, 2023
Mattel worked closely with the National Down Syndrome Society to create the doll, which has a shorter frame and longer torso to resemble a girl with Down syndrome. The doll also features a necklace with three upward chevrons to represent the three copies of the 21st chromosome, the genetic abnormality that causes Down syndrome.