Drew Barrymore has divided viewers by taking a knee in front of controversial transgender star Dylan Mulvaney during an exchange about online trolling.
Barrymore appeared to bow down to Mulvaney, a prominent TikTok personality who recently met with President Joe Biden at the White House, during a segment on The Drew Barrymore show.
But the gesture has drawn attention on social media, with many noting that she is “on her hands and feet” for a star who has been accused of trivializing femininity with her infantilized persona online.
Mulvaney often refers to herself as a ‘girl’ rather than a woman, has frequently called herself a ‘dumb’, and once compared herself to a Barbie doll.
The two women were deep in conversation about hate online when Mulvaney told Barrymore: “It’s interesting because I see someone like you and I can’t imagine anyone disliking you.”
Drew Barrymore has divided viewers after appearing kneeling before transgender star Dylan Mulvaney
The couple share a hug discussing online trolls during a segment on Barrymore’s main show.
Barrymore responds by getting down on one knee and says, ‘Oh please, do you want to know ironically who dislikes me the most sometimes? Myself.’
Mulvaney then joins her on the ground and the two embrace.
Later, Barrymore compares the online trolls terrorizing Mulvaney to his own experiences of receiving negative movie reviews as a child star.
Many people took to Twitter to complain about the odd gesture, with one viewer accusing Barrymore of “fawning” over his guest.
Another said: ‘Drew Barrymore has been an embarrassment for years. She now she is on her knees before the man who mocks the entire female gender. Incredible.’
Noted gender critic Oli London, who abandoned the transition after initially believing she was a woman, wrote: “Drew Barrymore kneels down to hug Dylan Mulvaney after Dylan spread a sob story about how hard it is to be a woman.”
Twitter user Ginette Hardwick said: “Drew Barrymore kneels before the atrocious Dylan Mulvaney who caricatures the ‘girl’. It’s not real Drew, nothing like that. Please stop being a servant.
However, other viewers pointed out that Barrymore often kneels before her guests during particularly emotional interviews.
Mulvaney has often been criticized for appearing to overly sexualize and infantilize women with her ‘Days of Girlhood’ series.
Images shared online show the former child star kneeling before a litany of stars, including Kate Hudson and Hillary Clinton.
“Every time I watch a clip from the Drew Barrymore show, she is ALWAYS kneeling in front of or sitting on top of another woman,” wrote one viewer.
Another shared multiple shots of the hostess kneeling as she wrote: ‘She frequently kneels and sits on the floor with guests.
It’s something he does when he interviews them. These are just some examples.
Much of the outrage stemmed from Mulvaney’s controversial TikTok videos which have previously been criticized for oversexualizing and infantilizing femininity.
Mulvaney was an actress and comedian living in Los Angeles when she decided to become a woman last March.
He joined TikTok in 2020 after a stint playing Elder White in the Book of Mormon on Broadway.
In March of last year, she began her transition journey which earned her 10.8 million followers on TikTok.
Many social media users pointed out that Barrymore often kneels in front of her guests. Pictured kneeling in front of Hillary Clinton
She also got down on one knee in front of her friend and former co-star Kate Hudson.
She became such a prominent name in the transgender community that she recently met as part of a panel to discuss gender-affirming care.
But she’s not without controversy, as critics have previously called her hyper-feminine persona online “insulting.”
Responding to criticism in a clip uploaded last summer, she said: “I would consider myself hyper-feminine right now.”
‘Like, I feel like a bimbo. Sometimes I feel like a Barbie doll and I think right now that’s what I should do for my inner child because I never got to wear the pretty dresses.
‘I never got around to putting on makeup. And now, it’s almost like I’m reliving my younger self.
She has a host of high-profile partnerships with makeup brands like Ulta Beauty, CeraVe, and Huaslabs.
And they’ve even sent you free samples of the Tampax brand of tampons.
Last year, she was criticized for a video in which she advocated for the normalization of “bumpy women.”
Mulvaney explained how she often wore baggier clothing to avoid being embarrassed by her ‘bulge’.
But he added: ‘Normalize the bulge. We are normalizing the bulge. Women have lumps and that’s okay.
The video drew the ire of transgender celebrity Caitlyn Jenner, who said: “Let’s not normalize anything this person is doing.” This is absurd!
