Angela Bassett ‘did the right thing’ after the BAFTA backlash that Ariana DeBose received. The awards season has started with NAACP Awards 2023 successfully concluding on February 25th, 2023. At the awards ceremony, the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ actor won big at the ceremony. During the red carpet event, she addressed the vitriol that Ariana’s performance got after the BAFTA awards.
During the BAFTA Awards ceremony, Ariana DeBose delivered an empowering performance. The year 2022 was important for the actress. She became the first queer woman of color to win an Oscar award. For 2023, she brought the theatrical and musical finesse to the BAFTAs stage with a rap performance. During her gig, she acknowledged the amazing women nominated for the coveted trophy in an underwhelming performance. One of the names included during the performance was Angela. The actress checked upon DeBose after the online trolling.
Related: Why Ariana DeBose Got Vitriol For Her BAFTA Awards Performance?
Angela Bassett DM’d Ariana DeBose After The BAFTA Backlash
The internet was buzzing with memes and jokes about Ariana DeBose’s infamous BAFTA act. The ‘West Side Story’ actress went out with a noble message with her performance, but it did not actualize in what she envisioned. During her act, she first sang ‘Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves’ by Eurythmics.
After the song, she broke out into an original rap song giving a shout-out to all the nominated women from Viola Davis to Angela Bassett. One of the lines that went viral was “Angela Bassett did the thing”.
Netizens did not receive the performance very well. However, Angela Bassett, like a true veteran, called Ariana DeBose to check on her. During the red carpet event, she interacted with a Variety reporter. She said, “I DM’d her last night. I did. It was beautiful. I just wanted to make sure she was okay because, you know, it’s a lot of attention. And she is A-Okay”.
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The BAFTA Producer Called The Criticism ‘Incredibly Unfair’
After the performance, Nick Bullen, the CEO of Spun Gold, came out in support of Ariana DeBose and defended her. During an interview with Variety, he explained why they came up with the performance. He said, “We wanted to open the show with some energy, some fun, and also lay out straight away that this was hopefully going to feel like a different night, but with a familiarity as well, and what Ariana did was exactly that”.
He talked about the online backlash that the ‘Hamilton’ actress received. Bullen said, “I think it’s incredibly unfair, to be frank. I absolutely loved it. Everybody I’ve spoken to who was in the room absolutely loved it. She’s a huge star, she was amazing. The songs she was singing are very familiar songs, the room was clapping, and people were sort of dancing to the music”.
Nick continued, “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. All of those mentions, I felt, from the moment we were rehearsing it right through to the transmission last night, spoke to what we wanted to do”.
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