Silke Jasso
Actress Angela Bassett is soaking up the viral fame, and going with the flow! The 64-year-old took home the entertainer of the year award at the NAACP Image Awards, and while accepting her award, she referenced a line in part of Ariana DeBose’s viral rap from the 2023 BAFTA Awards.
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“I guess Angela Bassett did the thing,” joked the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever actress. In her speech, the actress thanked Spike Lee, John Singleton, Malcolm X’s wife Betty Shabazz and Ryan Coogler, sharing that “gratitude is the universe’s way of saying we are not existing in this world alone,” according to Deadline.
In addition to her acceptance speech, Bassett also spoke about Ariana DeBose’s performance at the BAFTA Awards. The actress revealed to Variety on the red carpet of the NAACP Image Awards that she sent a direct message to the 32-year-old actress shortly after her viral moment.
“It was beautiful, it was beautiful, it was beautiful,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure she was okay, you know? Because it’s a lot of attention.”
At the awards show last Sunday, Oscar-winning West Side Story actress DeBose opened the show by performing a rap that celebrated this year’s female nominees, with lyrics such as, “Angela Bassett did the thing / Viola Davis, my Woman King / Blanchett, Cate, you’re a genius / And Jamie Lee, you are all of us.“
Following her performance at the BAFTA Awards, DeBose received some negative comments and backlash on social media. However, a producer of the awards show stated that the routine was well-received by the audience. DeBose’s performance also included singing the songs “Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves” and “We Are Family.”
“I think it’s incredibly unfair, to be frank,” producer Nick Bullen went on to tell Variety. “The songs she was singing are very familiar songs, the room was clapping and people were sort of dancing to the music. 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.”
