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In the grand scheme of award shows, the BAFTAs tend to get lost in the buzz of Golden Globes, Oscar noms and everything in between. But this year is sure to go down in history, thanks to a wild performance from Ariana DeBose.
The West Side Story star introduced the female nominees at the 2023 BAFTAs on Feb. 19, performing “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves” and “We Are Family,” plus a perplexing original rap honoring some of the A-list women in attendance.
DeBose, taking to the stage in a magenta jumpsuit, shouted out her lyrics while dancing for the audience, sometimes sounding a bit out of breath as she yelled lines like “Angela Bassett did the thing / Viola Davis, my Woman King,” and “Blanchett Cate you’re a genius / Jamie Lee you are all of us.”
In footage of DeBose’s performance posted to Twitter and YouTube, the audience reaction is mixed, but largely confused. After hearing “Ana, girl, you were great in Blonde,” Ana de Armas barely raises her eyebrows and looks unimpressed, while director Charlotte Wells — the first to get a shout-out by DeBose — is clearly unsure what is happening as DeBose salutes her film Aftersun.
And while the mood in the room was off, to say the least, Twitter was delighted by DeBose’s song, picking apart the lyrics, reactions and choreography in a never-ending scroll of tweets.
The reactions were so swift and widespread that DeBose deleted her Twitter after the BAFTAs… which did not go unnoticed.
“bitch………………………………. lean into it, you’ve never been more relevant like change ur name to ariana debose did the thing, make it an audio on tiktok just run with it,” one Twitter user wrote.
Another added, “This is Ariana DeBose’s moment. Somebody tell her to reactivate twitter. You can’t pay for publicity like this. After today, she’ll always be world famous.”
After DeBose went viral for “Angela Bassett did the thing” — the unofficial title the internet has bestowed upon the rap — BAFTA producer Nick Bullen went to Variety to defend her from her critics.
Bullen credited DeBose and her team with “put[ting] the whole piece together,” and called out the “incredibly unfair” reactions to her number. He added, “I think a lot of people don’t like change, and there’s a view that the BAFTAs have to be this slightly stiff, traditional British, middle-England messaging. But American awards shows have much more razzmatazz, much more showbiz, and perhaps a broader range of people being involved.”
“We felt we’re not about revolution, we’re about evolution,” Bullen said.
Watch DeBose’s full BAFTAs rap in the video above.
