After Ariana DeBose raised eyebrows over the BAFTA Film Awards thing, she did the explaining thing.
In what marked her first interview on her now-viral rap about the nominated actresses, the Oscar winner 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, as seen in an excerpt released on TikTok 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.” But it was her personalized rap, especially the lyric, “Angela Bassett did the thing,” that sparked criticism and memes.