Angela Bassett gave a shoutout to Ariana DeBose while accepting the award for Entertainer Of The Year at the 54th Annual NAACP Image Awards on Saturday night in Pasadena, California. DeBose went viral for her heavily criticized performance at the British Academy Film Awards, last week. “I guess Angela Bassett did the thing,” Bassett joked on stage, imitating DeBose’s performance.
Earlier in the night, Bassett revealed that she reached out to DeBose after the BAFTAs to check in on her. “I DM’d her last night. I did. It was beautiful,” she told Variety on the red carpet. “I just wanted to make sure she was OK because, you know, it’s a lot of attention. And she is A-OK.” DeBose deleted her Twitter account in response to the trolling over her performance.
Angela Bassett At The NAACP Image Awards
DeBose opened up about her feelings about the performance for the first time during an appearance on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show. She explained that she wanted to celebrate women. “Honestly, it’s not like I’m like, ‘Hey BAFTA, let me in!’ They actually called me, believe it or not,” DeBose said. “But that was the assignment. Like, ‘Come celebrate women,’ and I was like, ‘Absolutely!’ We did that and it was fun. Not gonna lie, I had a blast. [It was] so awesome, and then I spent the rest of the night, you know, cutting a rug. Which, is that something you say here? Cutting a rug with Emma Thompson. It was fabulous. I had a great time.”
According to DeBose, Bassett isn’t the only person who has supported her. Further speaking with Zoe Ball, DeBose revealed that Baz Luhrmann told her he enjoyed it. “He was like, ‘No, I think you’re great, that was fun. I had fun.’ And I was like, ‘work,’ ” she said. “That’s a win, you guys. And apparently, gay Twitter seemed to like it? So that’s good, I’ll take it. I told you, my people.”
The Acceptance Speech
[Via]