Former President Barrack Obama is receiving some serious criticism for the movies that he picked to be on his "favorite movies of 2023" list.
Why? You may ask.
Because, among other things, the former president selected several films that were produced by his and former First Lady Michelle Obama's movie production company.
Earlier this year, writers and actors went on strike to advocate for better working conditions and protections. It led to important changes that will transform the industry for the better.
Here are some films that reflect their hard work over the last year — including some like… pic.twitter.com/TMH9LeQgsT
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 27, 2023
As you can see in the above message, Obama put Rustin, Leave the World Behind, and American Symphony at the top of the list of his favorite movies. The former president did admit that his production company made these movies.
"Here are some films that reflect their hard work over the last year — including some like Rustin, American Symphony, and Leave the World Behind that we were proud to release through @HGMedia," Obama wrote.
For those unfamiliar with "HGMedia," it stands for Higher Ground Productions, and it was founded in 2018 by the Obamas.
Other movies that made Obama's favorite films of the year list include The HOldovers, Blackberry, Oppenheimer, American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Monster, Past Lives, Air, Polite Society, and A Thousand and One.
In a subsequent X message, Obama also added The Color Purple to his list. He wrote, "Update: I just saw The Color Purple and loved it. I'm adding it to this list as one of my favorite movies of the year."
Many X users responded with criticism to Obama's list of favorite films. The criticism came from several directions.
On the one hand, many users criticized Obama for not including Barbie in his list. Other users criticized Obama for essentially using the list to advertise the films produced by his own production company.
Still, other users were a bit more blunt with their criticism, with one directly telling Obama that he "got no taste" and another telling the former president that he has "horrible taste."
Obama has been making lists - such as his favorite films of the year, or favorite books of the year, etc. - for many years now.
Overall, the criticism was about what one would expect considering just how controversial of a figure Obama is.
