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We here at Vulture would like to take a moment to thank the theater kids of the world.
It went viral almost immediately.
Below, the BAFTAs opening performance, the response, and the response to the response.
Why did Ariana DeBoses BAFTA rap go dangerously viral?
What DeBose gives is certainly intended to be serious, yes, and it is certainly too much.
which, though true, has nothing to do with her hot-dog-handed character inEverything Everywhere All at Once.
Theres something beautiful about learning that the line readings went as intended … just more out of breath.
We cringe and we smile.
Yeah, we saw Angela Bassett did the thing.
And so should the rest of humanity!
(Who cares?)
Known camp appreciator Ziwe reenacted them to a T on Instagram.
Unironically, Angela Bassett did the thing is probably the best distillation of her awards narrative that exists.
She did the thing in WF, and has been doing the thing for decades without proper recognition.
Its naively bad in a way awards shows rarely achieve.
Both BAFTA and DeBose herself gave a version of a response.
And we did that and it was fun, not going to lie.
I had a blast.
So awesome, she reflects positively.
I had fun, and I was like, WERK.
Thats a win, you guys.
And apparently gay Twitter seemed to like it.
The internet is wild yall!
Appreciate all the love, DeBose captioned.
I absolutely loved it, he said.
Everybody Ive spoken to who was in the room absolutely loved it.
Shes a huge star, she was amazing.
And here is a woman of color who is at the absolute top of her game.
And shes opening the BAFTAs with a song that said so much on so many levels.
Sorry to those folks, but we, and many others on social media, ate it up.
What it does is to offer for art (and life) a different a supplementary set of standards.
And by our standards, the performance is perfect.
Angela Bassett Did the Meme
Yes, even Angela Bassett has seen Angela Bassett did the thing.
At the 2023NAACP Image Awards, Bassett referenced the meme of her name while accepting Entertainer of the Year.
I guess Angela Bassett did the THING, she said with a knowing upward inflection.
