Baftas Organiser Jumps To Ariana DeBose's Defence After Her Opening Rap Goes Viral

Baftas organisers have spoken out in defence of Ariana DeBose, after her performance at this year’s ceremony generated a lot of conversation online.

A year on from her win at the Baftas in 2022, the West Side Story star returned to the awards show to open the ceremony on Sunday night.

She kicked things off with a rendition of the classic Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves, but it was the Oscar winner’s decision to include a rap celebrating the year’s female nominees that really got everyone talking (as did the reaction shots in the crowd).

After name-checking everyone from Dolly De Leon (or, as Ariana renamed her, “Dolly D”), Kerry Condon, Carey Mulligan (“Kerry and Carey with a ‘C’”), Ana De Armas (“Ana, girl, you were great in Blonde”) and Danielle Deadwyler (“Danielle D, you broke my heart”), things reached a crescendo as Ariana infamously declared: “Angela Bassett did the thing, Viola Davis, my Woman King, Blanchett, Cate, you’re a genius, Jamie Lee you are all of us.”

While the performance ended up becoming a major talking point, with many poking fun at this particular section of the routine, Baftas producer Nick Bullen said he found the reaction “incredibly unfair, to be frank”.

He told Variety: “I absolutely loved it. Everybody I’ve spoken to who was in the room absolutely loved it.”

“We wanted to open the show with some energy, some fun, and also lay out straight away that this was hopefully going to feel like a different night, but with a familiarity as well, and what Ariana did was exactly that,” he continued.

“I think a lot of people don’t like change, and there’s a view that the BAFTAs have to be this slightly stiff, traditional British, middle-England messaging.

“But American awards shows have much more razzmatazz, much more showbiz, and perhaps a broader range of people being involved. We felt we’re not about revolution, we’re about evolution.”

He added: “We don’t want to just go for the traditional British award ceremony audience. The social media presence was incredibly important to us. The messaging to younger people was important to us. The messaging to the diverse groups around Britain was important to us.

“We wanted to get the message out there that this is a show for everybody. And I think some people don’t like that change, but you know what? You need to get with it because changes are coming.”

Nick also pointed out that Ariana “only had a few weeks to put this whole thing together”, alongside “a great musical director and choreographer”.

Since Sunday night, the Schmigadoon actor appears to have deactivated her Twitter account.

All Quiet On The Western Front was the big winner at this year’s Baftas, scooping seven of the 14 awards it was nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director for Edward Berger..

However, the show was met with some controversy, after it was pointed out on social media that all of the night’s winners were white.