He wasn’t feeling the Kenergy.
Ryan Gosling revealed he almost didn’t perform his viral song “I’m Just Ken” at this year’s Oscars, but was persuaded to do so because of his daughters’ love for Barbie.
The Canadian actor, who starred alongside Margot Robbie in the summer hit film, initially told the Academy he wasn’t interested in the live performance because anything could happen.
“100 percent no,” Gosling said during his appearance Thursday night on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
“There’s a lot of ways that could go wrong.”
Gosling, 43, eventually agreed to put on the show, complete with backup dancers, musician Mark Ronson, and a surprise appearance by legendary “Guns N’ Roses” guitarist Slash.
The performance has garnered hundreds of millions of views on social media, Spotify and Apple Music.
Gosling earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the Greta Gerwig film.
The father of two later shared what his daughters thought when he brought them to the dress rehearsal for his now-viral performance.
“Dad’s Ken-ning again,” Gosling joked.
The Golden Globes winner shares the two girls with “The Place Beyond the Pines” co-star Eva Mendes.
Gosling brought his daughters, 7 and 9 years old, to set to watch him play the Mattel doll-inspired character to give them context for what their father had been up to.
“It was their interest in Barbie and their disinterest in Ken that sort of started all of this,” the Ken actor admitted.
“It’s really been a team effort, and they were on the film and they came to set when I filmed the number,” Gosling said. “It’s also been like a lot of this has been no context for them, it’s just a lot of fake tan stains around the house.”
He said his performance last month was his daughters’ first concert but admitted they know the choreography and songs better than he does.
Gosling, who is hosting Saturday Night Live for the third time on Saturday, says a previous appearance of his on the long-running sketch show made Gerwig offer him the role of Ken.
“Alex Moffet wrote this sketch called ‘A Guy Who Just Joined SOHO House’ and the first line was like ‘Sergeant Blackout reporting for booty.’” he recalled.
“Who would’ve thought that Greta Gerwig was watching that going, ‘That’s my Ken.’
“Thank you, Alex, you got me a job.”
