Ariana DeBose reveals BAFTA told her to ‘celebrate women’ amid rap backlash

Ariana DeBose has revealed that she was told to ‘celebrate women’ at the 2023 BAFTAs as she addressed the brutal criticism she received for her now-viral rap.

DeBose, in her first interview since the viral BAFTAs rap, said she wanted to celebrate women with her performance at the Feb. 19 ceremony.

"That's what I wanted to do," DeBose explained on BBC Radio 2's The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Feb. 25.

"It's not like I was like, 'Hey BAFTA, let me in!' They actually called me, believe it or not. That was the assignment, like, 'Come celebrate women.' I was like, 'Absolutely!' And we did that, and it was fun."

DeBose's performance at the BAFTAs included covers of Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin's Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves and Sister Sledge's We Are Family.

However, her personalized rap, especially the lyric, "Angela Bassett did the thing," sparked criticism and memes on the internet.

While DeBose praised one of them on Instagram, commenting, "Honestly I love this," she still deleted her Twitter amid the backlash.

Focusing on the positive picture, the Oscar-nominated actress said, "Not gonna lie. I had a blast," she said about her experience at the BAFTAs.

"So awesome. And then I spent the rest of the night...cutting a rug with Emma Thompson. Like, it was fabulous. I had a great time. Baz Luhrmann came and found me and he was like, 'No, I think you're great, that was fun. I had fun.' And I was like, 'Work!'"