Ariana DeBose has deactivated her Twitter account after online commentators attacked her opening number at the 2023 BAFTA Awards. However, one of the event’s producers was quick to defend the West Side Story star, calling the backlash “incredibly unfair.”
DeBose performed “Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves” and “We Are Family,” as well as an original rap calling out to the female award show nominees.
“Angela Bassett made that thing, Viola Davis my ‘queen,’ Blanchett Cate, you’re a genius, Jamie Lee, you’re us all,” DeBose sang. The camera panned to the women as they were given their names.
In a statement to Variety after the awards show, producer Nick Bullen said, “The songs she sang are very well known songs, the room was clapping and people were kind of dancing to the music,” he told the publication. “That rap section in the middle mentioning the women in the room came out because it’s been a great year for women in film and we wanted to celebrate that.”
Bullen says much of the criticism of DeBose stems from the fact that “a lot of people don’t like change.” He noted that DeBose “worked with an amazing musical director and choreographer.”
“There’s a perception that the BAFTAs have to be that somewhat stuffy, traditional British, Middle English message,” Bullen explained, noting, “American awards shows have a lot more hype, a lot more showbiz, and maybe a wider range of people involved.”
“We felt that we weren’t about revolution, we were about evolution. Let’s just evolve, let’s just move forward with some gentle changes that will start to define the state of what this show should be and where we should be with it,” Bullen said.
Aside from taking down her Twitter account, DeBose has not publicly addressed the performance.
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