Ariana DeBose is doing her “thing” and trying to roll with the punches following the BAFTA Film Awards in London this weekend.
DeBose helped kick off the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ annual awards ceremony on Sunday, and her performance garnered attention for a brief rap interlude during her musical piece honouring the evening’s female candidates.
Memes have sprung up in response to DeBose’s ditty, particularly one in which she executed a dance move while exclaiming, “Angela Bassett did the thing, Viola Davis, my ‘Woman King!'”
While DeBose has since abandoned Twitter, allegedly owing to trolls and harsh messages about the premiere, BAFTAs producer Nick Bullen told Variety on Tuesday that the criticism levelled at her well-meaning performance is “very unfair.”
“Everyone I’ve talked to who was there absolutely enjoyed it,” Bullen said, adding that “the room was clapping, and people were sort of dancing to the music.”
The producer also said that the mentions to female nominees like Bassett, Davis and Jamie Lee Curtis were included “because it’s been a tremendous year for women in film, and we wanted to honour that,” adding of DeBose, “here is a lady of colour who is at the absolute top of her game. And she’s kicking off the BAFTAs with a song that spoke to her on so many levels.”
DeBose, who received an Oscar for her portrayal in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake last year, doesn’t appear to be that upset, despite her Twitter deactivation. The actress wrote on Monday under a popular Instagram post collecting up some of the most humorous memes spawned after her BAFTAs performance, “Honestly I adore this.”
