Ariana DeBose did the thing and reacts to love sent after viral BAFTAs rap: 'The internet is wild'

Ariana DeBose is speaking out after she did the thing at the 2023 BAFTA Awards.

On Saturday, the West Side Story star shared a carousel of images and videos on her Instagram account that featured fellow stars including Lizzo, Adele, and Halle Berry all referencing her now-viral BAFTAs rap. DeBose opened the awards ceremony last weekend by performing "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" and "We Are Family" before launching into a rap that celebrated female nominees and featured the unforgettable line, "Angela Bassett did the thing."

"The internet is wild y'all!" she captioned the post. "Appreciate all the love."

Among the images and videos that DeBose shared was a clip of Lizzo doing her own mini-rendition of the Angela Bassett line — dance moves and all — during a recent concert. The "About Damn Time" singer captioned the post, "Ariana you will always be the icon and the moment."

In another video, Adele can be seen talking with the audience while sitting next to a piano during her Las Vegas residency. "We did learn that Angela Bassett did the thing, didn't we?" she joked. "I love her though. I love Ariana."

The post also featured a screenshot of a tweet from Halle Berry referencing the rap and a photo of a bouquet that Wanda Sykes sent DeBose after the ceremony. In an accompanying note, Sykes wrote, "I loved it! You did the thing."

DeBose shuttered her Twitter account following her BAFTAs performance, which featured the lyrics, "Angela Bassett did the thing / Viola Davis my Woman King / Blanchett Cate you're a genius / Jamie Lee you are all of us." The rap was immediately turned into a meme online, which led show producer Nick Bullen to stand up for DeBose and her performance.

"I think it's incredibly unfair, to be frank," Bullen told Variety. "That rap section in the middle, mentioning the women in the room, was because it's been a great year for women in film, and we wanted to celebrate that. And here is a woman of color who is at the absolute top of her game. And she's opening the BAFTAs with a song that said so much on so many levels."

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• BAFTAs producer says Ariana DeBose backlash to viral rap is 'incredibly unfair'