5 February 2024:
Attended a literary soirée to celebrate the launch of Rupert Grint’s new book of dessert recipes. At dinner I was seated next to the actor Ryan Gosling. He was wearing a pale pink suit and looked very metrosexual. I told him I had seen his recent statement about the Academy’s snubbing of Barbie’s Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie in this year’s Oscar nominations, and was impressed with how he managed to remain gracious about his own nomination whilst also displaying solidarity with his female colleagues. “Thank you, man,” he said. “It’s very important to me for people to recognise that without Barbie there is no Ken. Those women are a force of nature, and it was an honour to be in their orbit and watch them work.” He leaned towards me. “As I always say,” he said, smiling profoundly. “Women are better than we men”. He then clicked his fingers, summoned the waitress, ordered another Old Fashioned, referred to her as “Sugar Tits”, slapped her on the behind, and burped loudly…
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