Republican senator says The LEGO Movie is 'insidious' propaganda

The Lego Movie
(Image credit: Facebook.com/The LEGO Movie)

First the Oscar snub, now this — The Lego Movie can't catch a break. (Well, save that it grossed nearly $500 million, but other than that.)

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a businessman himself, condemned the animated children's movie — in which "Mr. Evil Businessman" plots to destroy the world so he alone may profit — as "insidious" propaganda. "That's done for a reason," Johnson said. Hollywood is cultivating a "cultural attitude" in which people believe "government is good and business is bad."

On Thursday, Johnson responded on his website to a Huffington Post article that reported his comments, saying the writer "can't seem to figure out why I or anyone else would say this about The Lego Movie."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"[T]he point that The Lego Movie was an especially grievous slam on business was made by others," Johnson wrote. "The strange thing isn't that a kids' movie was anti-business, it is that someone claiming to be a journalist never encountered the idea before."

Explore More

Stephanie is an editorial assistant at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Modern Luxury Media.