Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Star and Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett has revealed that she reached out to Ariana DeBose following the latter’s viral BAFTA performance.
Last week, DeBose, who won an Oscar last year for west side history, performed a rap celebrating several female nominees at the BAFTA ceremony. One of the lyrics featured Bassett, who was nominated for best supporting actress.
The performance went viral on social media with some poking fun at DeBose’s rap, while the production spawned a slew of memes reacting to the moment. Bassett said Variety which she went out of her way to text DeBose after the backlash.
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“I texted 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’s A-Okay,” Bassett said.
The lyrics involving Bassett were “Angela Bassett did the thing; Viola Davis, my wife king.”
That particular line got a lot of attention, prompting DeBose to comment on the reaction in an Instagram post. She wrote: “The internet is wild y’all! I appreciate all the love.”
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Meanwhile, BAFTA producer Nick Bullen defended the performance and called the criticism “incredibly unfair”.
“Everyone I spoke to who was in the room loved it,” Bullen said.
Bassett didn’t win at the BAFTA – it was Inisherin’s Banshees actress Kerry Condon who took home the award. However, Bassett hopes to win an Oscar for playing Queen Ramonda in the Black Panther continuation on March 13.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever it’s now playing in theaters worldwide and debuts on Disney+ on February 1st. The first film is also being broadcast on disney+.
