Rob Thomas, what a mensch. You might recall how we wrote about there being a very memorable needle-drop in the Barbie movie where Ryan Gosling (as Ken) sings Matchbox Twenty’s 1997 hit “Push.” The moment is meant to poke fun at Matchbox Twenty being the ultimate bro band, while the song’s lyrics (which were never intended to be misogynistic, as they’re about Thomas’ emotionally abusive ex) take on special meaning in Kendom. Thomas, turns out, is totally fine being clowned on by Barbie.

Speaking to USA Today, Thomas says, “I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious. But in Bring It On, (Kirsten Dunst’s character) has this douchey boyfriend. And there’s a scene where he was in his dorm room with a Matchbox Twenty poster in the background. There was a whole period during the ‘90s where the more successful we got, the bigger target we were. We were an easy takedown.”

He even admits to a crush on Greta Gerwig, the film’s writer/director:

When I got the call for Barbie, they told me, “Ken’s by the fireside, he’s playing the song and it’s his favorite band.” So I did this thinking I’d be the butt of the joke, and I was fine with that. I’m pretty thick-skinned. But Julie Greenwald (from Atlantic Records) came to the Hollywood Bowl a month or two ago. She had just seen the movie and was like, “You come out of it loving Ken and loving “Push.” And I was like, “Aww. Alright, really good!”

Also, Greta Gerwig has been one of my crushes forever, to the point where I was on a plane one time and I called my wife, like, “Baby, Greta Gerwig just came on the plane, oh my god.” So just the fact that it didn’t diminish my crush of Greta, that’s even better.

For her part, Gerwig told USA Today: “Growing up, I loved that song. I was like, ‘This is my rock ‘n’ roll, Dad. Enjoy the Who, but these are my guys.’ And it wasn’t until college that I actually thought, ‘What is that song about?’ Just thinking about 13-year-old me singing along and really meaning it, I was like, ‘That is so interesting.’ I looked it up and, in a way, (Thomas) was playing a character. It’s almost like a story song.”

Thomas, who is currently on tour with Matchbox Twenty promoting last May’s Where The Light Goes, also recently dedicated the song to Ryan Gosling before launching into a performance of “Push.”

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