Ariana DeBose is handling her recent performance at the BAFTAs after going viral for all the wrong reasons.
The actor and singer was widely mocked online for awkwardly rapping about all the female nominees at Sunday’s British Academy Film Awards. DeBose seemed quiet and even subdued his twitter account amid the ridicule, but she appeared in person on Saturday to address the fiasco.
“Honestly, it’s not like I said, ‘Hey BAFTA, let me in!'” she told host Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2’s breakfast show.
“That was the task – like, ‘Come celebrate women.’ And I said, “Absolutely!” And I did and it was fun. I’m not going to lie, I had a lot of fun.”
DeBose told Ball that performing for his co-stars was “amazing” and “fabulous,” adding that he went on to “cut a rug” with actor Emma Thompson. The Oscar-winning “West Side Story” star also said director Baz Luhrmann, who won two BAFTAs in 1998, told him he did well.
“He said, ‘No, I think you’re great. It was fun. I had fun,’” DeBose told Ball. “And I said, ‘work.’ It’s a win, guys. And apparently gay Twitter seemed to like it, so that’s okay. I’ll take it.”
Although Ball described DeBose’s rap as “woman singing and dancing, it’s magnificent, it celebrates women,” much of the internet had a different reaction, turning it into a meme. The show, which followed host Richard E. Grant’s opening monologue, was certainly prepared for him.
“Miss Emma, I love you so much. Ana, girl, you did great in ‘Blonde'” He knocked. “Danielle D., you broke my heart. Michelle, I loved you from the beginning. Angela Bassett did the job. Viola Davis, my “King of Queens”. Blanchett, Cate, you are a genius. Jamie Lee, you are all of us!
While the nominated actors — Thompson, Ana de Armas, Danielle Deadwyler, Michelle Yeoh, Bassett, Davis, Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis — seemed to enjoy the show, Twitter users divided own thoughtswhich probably prompted DeBose to leave the platform.
Although he has yet to reactivate his account, DeBose has garnered some high-profile supporters.
BAFTA producer Nick Bullen told Variety that the “incredibly unfair” criticism of DeBose, who “put this whole piece together,” could be the result of a clash between the “young people” he rapped for and “a bit stiff, traditional”. crowd.
On Saturday, the actor posted a video on Instagram of Lizzo rapping during a concert in Amsterdam, writing: “The internet is wild.” In the comments section, “The Last of Us” star Melanie Lynskey called DeBose “amazing,” and actor Gabrielle Union chimed in with several red heart emojis. So, it looks like DeBose did… this thing.
