The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!
The Daily BS • Bo Snerdley Cuts Through It!

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Ryan Reynolds calls 1980s a ‘brutal’ time, Gen X has some thoughts …

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BS BULLETIN:

  • Ryan Reynolds called the 1980s a “brutal, brutal time” filled with trauma and sociopolitical tension.
  • Gen X responded by turning “The 1980s” into a trend on X and mercilessly mocking the actor’s assessment.
  • One particularly puzzling part of Reynolds’ argument: He invoked the Cuban Missile Crisis — which happened in 1962.

Ryan Reynolds took a swing at 1980s nostalgia, and Gen X appears to have taken that personally.

“The 1980s” continued trending on X Friday as users piled onto the “Deadpool” star over comments he made while promoting his new Apple TV movie “Mayday,” which is set during the Cold War.

Reynolds argued that nostalgia has sanitized what the decade was really like.

“The 80s was a brutal, brutal time for people,” Reynolds told Variety. “It was a f***ing mess and people forget that.”

He pointed to widespread sociopolitical tensions and added that Americans were “still pretty fresh off” the Cuban Missile Crisis, which he said had occurred only 15 to 20 years earlier. There was one problem with that particular bit of historical reminiscing: The Cuban Missile Crisis happened in October 1962 — nearly 18 years before the 1980s even began.

Then there was Reynolds’ own experience of the decade.

The actor was born in Vancouver in 1976, meaning he was four years old when the ’80s began and 13 when they ended. He grew up in Canada rather than the United States. Those details proved irresistible on X.

“Ryan Reynolds was 4 years old when the 80’s started,” one user cracked. “Maybe he was ‘brutalized’ by not getting as many Jello Pudding Cups as he wanted.”

Others began gleefully remembering their own supposed “trauma” from a decade of Ronald Reagan, “Top Gun,” MTV, arcade games, Walkmans and some truly spectacular hair.

The pile-on soon attracted bigger names.

Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino wrote that he was a teenager when the decade ended and called it an “INCREDIBLE time to be alive,” pointing to everything from the Miracle on Ice to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Journalist Matt Taibbi zeroed in on Reynolds’ historical reference: “How nuts do you have to be to cite the Cuban Missile Crisis as a reason the eighties were traumatic?”

Actress Kristy Swanson invoked Ronald Reagan, while Spencer Pratt argued that Reynolds’ gloomy view was practically the inverse of how many Americans remember the era.

Reynolds eventually responded to the backlash with a joke of his own, posting a picture referencing “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and writing, “I guess my street was different.”

That didn’t exactly stop the nostalgia train.

MY QUICK TAKE

I lived through the ’80s, and somehow I missed the part where we were all walking around traumatized by the Cuban Missile Crisis from 18 years earlier.

We had Reagan, Prince, Michael Jackson, Eddie Murphy, the Miracle on Ice, the Walkman and MTV when MTV actually played music. If that was brutality, somebody fire up the DeLorean and send me back.

DBS WIRE SOURCES:

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