Ariana DeBose is opening up about her show-opening musical medley on the 2023 BAFTA Awards.
Throughout an interview on BBC Radio 2’s The Zoe Ball Breakfast Present, the Oscar-winning singer and actress spoke out for the primary time since receiving backlash on social media after performing an unique rap in honor of the feminine nominees on the Feb. 19 awards present in London.
Host Zoe Ball opened the dialog by praising DeBose’s efficiency, which combined a high-energy medley of Eurythmics‘ “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” and Sister Sledge’s “We Are Household” with a rap quantity that named-checked well-known actresses like Angela Bassett, Viola Davis and Jamie Lee Curtis.
“ what, you is likely to be one of many few,” the West Facet Story movie reboot actress responded in a video of the interview, which was shared by means of TikTok on Saturday (Feb. 25). “I’ll take it, since you’re my folks.”
The radio present host added, “It was a girl, singing and dancing, being magnificent, celebrating ladies onstage. Come on!” DeBose agreed, saying, “That’s what I needed to do.”
“Truthfully, it’s not like I’m like, ‘Hey BAFTA, let me in!’ They really referred to as me, imagine it or not,” the actress-singer continued. “However that was the task. Like, ‘Come have a good time ladies,’ and I used to be like, ‘Completely!’ We did that and it was enjoyable. Not gonna lie, I had a blast.”
DeBose went on to say that Elvis director Baz Luhrmann discovered her after the present and gave her constructive suggestions in regards to the efficiency. She additionally famous that “homosexual Twitter appeared to love it, in order that’s good. I’ll take it.”
However not all viewers loved the musical medley. Following the efficiency, DeBose confronted an avalanche of snarky criticism and memes on social media, which led to the star deactivating her Twitter account.
After the present, BAFTAs producer Nick Bullen got here to DeBose’s protection. “I believe it’s extremely unfair, to be frank. I completely beloved it,” Bullen informed Selection. “Everyone I’ve spoken to who was within the room completely beloved it. She’s an enormous star, she was superb.”
One other admirer of DeBose’s rap was Lizzo, who recreated the viral rap second throughout a current live performance. DeBose caught wind of the TikTok video and reposted it on her Instagram web page. “The web is wild y’all!” the West Facet Story star wrote. “Admire all of the love.”
Watch a portion of DeBose’s BBC interview on TikTok beneath.
