LIKE many iconic moments on live television, Ariana DeBose rapping about many women in the room at the 2023 BAFTA Awards was the kind of moment that made us cringe-laugh.
But because we live in the age of the internet, you may hear ‘Angela Bassett did the thing’ in your sleep.
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What is the Angela Bassett ‘did the thing’ meme?
While opening for the 2023 Bafta Awards, the Westside Story star Ariana DeBose did a rap number celebrating the women in the audience.
She called out the following women in her rap:
In honor of the 2023 BAFTA leading and supporting actress nominees, host Ariana DeBose broke out into song and dance.
During her rap performance, Ariana name-checked the following stars:
Toward the end of the rap, she sang the following, making her a meme for the ages.
She sang: “Angela Bassett did the thing, Viola Davis my Woman King…
“Blanchett, Cate, you’re a genius, and Jamie Lee, you are all of us!”
How did the internet respond with memes?
The internet quickly caught on to the “Ang-el-uhh Bas-set did the thing” part of the rhyme, but nobody was entirely sure what ‘the thing’ was, making it much funnier.
The world’s netizens got to work and posted popular images with the words “Angela Basset did the thing” on them.
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The internet responded swiftly, with thoughts on whether the rap was ‘camp’ or just plain awful.
Within two days of the February 19 show, DeBose had deleted her Twitter account.
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Has DeBose said anything since deleting her Twitter?
DeBose has not resurfaced on Twitter yet.
She did comment on a carousel of memes shared by Evan Ross Katz on Instagram, saying: “Honestly I love this.”
Besides that, we have a statement from the ceremony’s producer, Nick Bullen.
He told Variety: “I think it’s incredibly unfair, to be frank. I absolutely loved it.”
“Everybody I’ve spoken to who was in the room absolutely loved it. She’s a huge star, she was amazing.”
“That rap section in the middle, mentioning the women in the room, was because it’s been a great year for women in film, and we wanted to celebrate that.”
“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.”
He added: “We don’t want to just go for the traditional British award ceremony audience.”
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