When the cast of Magic Mike XXL took the stage to present the MTV Movie Award for the best “Scared As Sh*t” performance, we expected a hilarious bit from these guys, perhaps complete with the dance performance of the night. What we didn’t expect, though, was a total mood-ruiner.
“To all the men out there, let’s get serious for a minute,” Channing Tatum said. “Look, we’re living in some seriously scary times, right? Because women are taking over.”
The women in the audience cheered… because yes, who run the world? But there are enough issues with Channing’s joke as it is: it comes during a time when we still haven’t achieved gender equality as it should be; having women take over definitely shouldn’t be considered “seriously scary times”; and the statement perpetuates the false idea that the feminist movement is about becoming better than men.
But it didn’t end there—Channing opened a door that his co-stars were happy to walk right through. “Can I just say, ladies, my eyes are up here?” Adam Rodriguez joked. Joe Mangianello chimed in, “I don’t feel comfortable walking by construction sites in my mini skirt anymore.”
Objectifying women? Cat-calling? Really?
We’re not sure what the Magic Mike guys were thinking when they decided to turn a presentation for “Scared As Sh*t” performances into jokes about women, but at least to us, the category definitely doesn’t lend itself naturally to sexist statements.