Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap

2023Viral video / catchphrasedead

Also known as: Angela Bassett Did the Thing

Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap is a February 2023 viral moment from the British Academy Film Awards featuring the actress performing an intense rap and dance to celebrate female nominees, popularizing the catchphrase "Angela Bassett did the thing.

The Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap is a viral moment from the 76th British Academy Film Awards on February 19, 2023, in which Academy Award-winning actress Ariana DeBose performed an original rap celebrating female nominees while dancing at high intensity1. The performance, widely circulated under the catchphrase "Angela Bassett did the thing," became an instant source of cringe comedy and parody across Twitter and TikTok, generating over 600,000 TikTok videos within days3.

awards show memescatchphrase memescringe memestiktok sound trendscelebrity reaction memes

Overview

During the opening of the 2023 BAFTA ceremony, host Ariana DeBose performed a medley celebrating women in film. The middle segment was an original rap in which she name-checked individual female nominees one by one while performing an energetic dance routine1. The rap featured awkward rhyme schemes, breathless delivery, and forced namedrops that clashed with the formality of the event. The camera repeatedly cut to nominees as DeBose shouted their names, capturing a gallery of confused, uncomfortable, and amused reactions from Hollywood's biggest stars1.

The most quoted line, "Angela Bassett did the thing," became shorthand for the entire performance and the primary vehicle through which it spread online3.

On February 19, 2023, Ariana DeBose hosted the 76th annual BAFTA awards at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London3. DeBose, who had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's *West Side Story* (2021)2, opened the ceremony with a three-part medley. The first segment was a rendition of "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," performed with what The Guardian described as "an orgy of spinning and twirling and flung chairs1." The final segment was a snippet of "We Are Family."

Between these bookends came the rap. DeBose rattled off names of female nominees across categories, attempting personalized rhyming couplets for each. She shouted out Charlotte Wells (*Aftersun*), Georgia Oakley and Hélène Sifre (*Blue Jean*), Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot (*Rebellion*), and many others in rapid succession1. The BAFTA Twitter account posted the clip that evening, where it picked up over 3.9 million views in four days3.

Origin & Background

Platform
BAFTA broadcast (source), Twitter / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
Ariana DeBose
Date
2023

On February 19, 2023, Ariana DeBose hosted the 76th annual BAFTA awards at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London. DeBose, who had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's *West Side Story* (2021), opened the ceremony with a three-part medley. The first segment was a rendition of "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," performed with what The Guardian described as "an orgy of spinning and twirling and flung chairs." The final segment was a snippet of "We Are Family."

Between these bookends came the rap. DeBose rattled off names of female nominees across categories, attempting personalized rhyming couplets for each. She shouted out Charlotte Wells (*Aftersun*), Georgia Oakley and Hélène Sifre (*Blue Jean*), Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot (*Rebellion*), and many others in rapid succession. The BAFTA Twitter account posted the clip that evening, where it picked up over 3.9 million views in four days.

How It Spread

The clip became a punching bag almost instantly. On the night of the broadcast, Twitter user @danielleloucamp posted "this is why bullying musical theatre kids is important," earning over 640 likes in two days. User @ThatJakePC compared the moment to "someone waiting until the subway doors close to start reciting their poetry."

TikTok adopted the "Angela Bassett did the thing" line as a sound and running joke. By February 22, the hashtag #AngelaBassettDidTheThing had appeared on over 600,000 videos, with creators lip-syncing the line, inserting it into unrelated contexts, and mocking the breathless delivery. TikToker bruja.rita's parody video pulled in over 7,900 likes in a single day, while apat100's clip about the lyric being stuck in his head earned 17,000 likes overnight.

The Guardian published a now-famous line-by-line breakdown of the entire performance, complete with screengrabbed reaction shots of bewildered nominees. The article catalogued standout audience reactions: Ana de Armas looking "like a bored Roman emperor," Kerry Condon displaying "palpable concern," and Elena Sánchez Bellot collapsing "into fits of disbelieving giggles." Of the rhyme scheme, the breakdown singled out DeBose's attempt to rhyme "room" with "supporting or leading, all here I presume," awarding it a sarcastic "Full marks. Standing ovation."

Following the backlash, DeBose deleted her Twitter account. BAFTA producer Nick Bullen publicly defended the performance, calling the online reaction "incredibly unfair." The press response was mixed. While some outlets framed it as a lovable misfire, most coverage leaned into the cringe factor. The awkward British accent DeBose adopted for one line, rapped "in a room full of British people, in Britain," drew particular ridicule.

How to Use This Meme

The Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap typically gets referenced in a few ways:

- Catchphrase drop: Inserting "Angela Bassett did the thing" into unrelated conversations or video edits as a non sequitur punchline. - Cringe comparison: Posting the clip or quoting the lyrics to describe any well-intentioned but painfully executed public performance, especially at formal events. - Reaction shot mining: Using the screengrabbed audience reactions (particularly Ana de Armas and Kerry Condon) as standalone reaction images to express confusion, horror, or secondhand embarrassment. - Parody template: Creators on TikTok adopted the format of rapping awkward rhyming tributes to people in the room, mimicking DeBose's breathless delivery and forced name-drops.

Cultural Impact

The performance became one of the defining cringe moments of early 2023. The Guardian's breakdown article, which treated the rap like a forensic examination of a crime scene, set the tone for how media covered the incident. The piece described it as "one of the all-time great berserk musical performances" and noted that "in years to come, oral histories will be written about Angela Bassett Did the Thing."

The incident also sparked conversation about the gap between Broadway energy and awards show audiences. DeBose, a trained Broadway performer and dancer, delivered the rap with genuine commitment. But the format collided with a room full of celebrities who had no advance warning, creating a mismatch between performer enthusiasm and audience discomfort. The camera cuts to each named nominee, intended as a celebratory touch, backfired when "none of them looked even slightly pleased about it."

DeBose's decision to delete her Twitter account signaled the intensity of the backlash. Despite the viral humiliation, she went on to host the Tony Awards again in 2023 and 2024, suggesting the BAFTA incident didn't derail her career.

Fun Facts

DeBose attempted a British accent during the Sandy Powell verse, rapping about costumes and wigs in an imitation that The Guardian noted was performed "in a room full of British people, in Britain."

The Guardian writer couldn't even decipher one word of the Sandy Powell line because DeBose was "huffing and puffing like a Crossfit bro."

The performance followed DeBose's Academy Award win less than a year earlier, making the tonal whiplash between Oscar glory and BAFTA infamy especially stark.

Maia Kenworthy, one of the nominees DeBose shouted out, had to "jam her tongue into the side of her cheek to stop herself from laughing" during the rap.

Despite the backlash, DeBose went on to voice Asha in Disney's animated film *Wish* later in 2023.

Derivatives & Variations

"Angela Bassett Did the Thing" sound:

The specific line became a standalone TikTok audio used in lip-sync and reaction videos, detached from the rest of the performance[3].

Nominee reaction images:

Screengrabbed shots of Ana de Armas, Kerry Condon, and others were repurposed as general-purpose reaction images for expressing confusion or displeasure[1].

Musical theatre kid jokes:

The @danielleloucamp tweet about "bullying musical theatre kids" spawned its own thread of variations about the dangers of unchecked theatrical energy[3].

Frequently Asked Questions

Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap

2023Viral video / catchphrasedead

Also known as: Angela Bassett Did the Thing

Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap is a February 2023 viral moment from the British Academy Film Awards featuring the actress performing an intense rap and dance to celebrate female nominees, popularizing the catchphrase "Angela Bassett did the thing.

The Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap is a viral moment from the 76th British Academy Film Awards on February 19, 2023, in which Academy Award-winning actress Ariana DeBose performed an original rap celebrating female nominees while dancing at high intensity. The performance, widely circulated under the catchphrase "Angela Bassett did the thing," became an instant source of cringe comedy and parody across Twitter and TikTok, generating over 600,000 TikTok videos within days.

awards show memes catchphrase memes cringe memes tiktok sound trends celebrity reaction memes

Overview

During the opening of the 2023 BAFTA ceremony, host Ariana DeBose performed a medley celebrating women in film. The middle segment was an original rap in which she name-checked individual female nominees one by one while performing an energetic dance routine. The rap featured awkward rhyme schemes, breathless delivery, and forced namedrops that clashed with the formality of the event. The camera repeatedly cut to nominees as DeBose shouted their names, capturing a gallery of confused, uncomfortable, and amused reactions from Hollywood's biggest stars.

The most quoted line, "Angela Bassett did the thing," became shorthand for the entire performance and the primary vehicle through which it spread online.

On February 19, 2023, Ariana DeBose hosted the 76th annual BAFTA awards at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London. DeBose, who had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's *West Side Story* (2021), opened the ceremony with a three-part medley. The first segment was a rendition of "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," performed with what The Guardian described as "an orgy of spinning and twirling and flung chairs." The final segment was a snippet of "We Are Family."

Between these bookends came the rap. DeBose rattled off names of female nominees across categories, attempting personalized rhyming couplets for each. She shouted out Charlotte Wells (*Aftersun*), Georgia Oakley and Hélène Sifre (*Blue Jean*), Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot (*Rebellion*), and many others in rapid succession. The BAFTA Twitter account posted the clip that evening, where it picked up over 3.9 million views in four days.

Origin & Background

Platform
BAFTA broadcast (source), Twitter / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
Ariana DeBose
Date
2023

On February 19, 2023, Ariana DeBose hosted the 76th annual BAFTA awards at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London. DeBose, who had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's *West Side Story* (2021), opened the ceremony with a three-part medley. The first segment was a rendition of "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves," performed with what The Guardian described as "an orgy of spinning and twirling and flung chairs." The final segment was a snippet of "We Are Family."

Between these bookends came the rap. DeBose rattled off names of female nominees across categories, attempting personalized rhyming couplets for each. She shouted out Charlotte Wells (*Aftersun*), Georgia Oakley and Hélène Sifre (*Blue Jean*), Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot (*Rebellion*), and many others in rapid succession. The BAFTA Twitter account posted the clip that evening, where it picked up over 3.9 million views in four days.

How It Spread

The clip became a punching bag almost instantly. On the night of the broadcast, Twitter user @danielleloucamp posted "this is why bullying musical theatre kids is important," earning over 640 likes in two days. User @ThatJakePC compared the moment to "someone waiting until the subway doors close to start reciting their poetry."

TikTok adopted the "Angela Bassett did the thing" line as a sound and running joke. By February 22, the hashtag #AngelaBassettDidTheThing had appeared on over 600,000 videos, with creators lip-syncing the line, inserting it into unrelated contexts, and mocking the breathless delivery. TikToker bruja.rita's parody video pulled in over 7,900 likes in a single day, while apat100's clip about the lyric being stuck in his head earned 17,000 likes overnight.

The Guardian published a now-famous line-by-line breakdown of the entire performance, complete with screengrabbed reaction shots of bewildered nominees. The article catalogued standout audience reactions: Ana de Armas looking "like a bored Roman emperor," Kerry Condon displaying "palpable concern," and Elena Sánchez Bellot collapsing "into fits of disbelieving giggles." Of the rhyme scheme, the breakdown singled out DeBose's attempt to rhyme "room" with "supporting or leading, all here I presume," awarding it a sarcastic "Full marks. Standing ovation."

Following the backlash, DeBose deleted her Twitter account. BAFTA producer Nick Bullen publicly defended the performance, calling the online reaction "incredibly unfair." The press response was mixed. While some outlets framed it as a lovable misfire, most coverage leaned into the cringe factor. The awkward British accent DeBose adopted for one line, rapped "in a room full of British people, in Britain," drew particular ridicule.

How to Use This Meme

The Ariana DeBose BAFTA Rap typically gets referenced in a few ways:

- Catchphrase drop: Inserting "Angela Bassett did the thing" into unrelated conversations or video edits as a non sequitur punchline. - Cringe comparison: Posting the clip or quoting the lyrics to describe any well-intentioned but painfully executed public performance, especially at formal events. - Reaction shot mining: Using the screengrabbed audience reactions (particularly Ana de Armas and Kerry Condon) as standalone reaction images to express confusion, horror, or secondhand embarrassment. - Parody template: Creators on TikTok adopted the format of rapping awkward rhyming tributes to people in the room, mimicking DeBose's breathless delivery and forced name-drops.

Cultural Impact

The performance became one of the defining cringe moments of early 2023. The Guardian's breakdown article, which treated the rap like a forensic examination of a crime scene, set the tone for how media covered the incident. The piece described it as "one of the all-time great berserk musical performances" and noted that "in years to come, oral histories will be written about Angela Bassett Did the Thing."

The incident also sparked conversation about the gap between Broadway energy and awards show audiences. DeBose, a trained Broadway performer and dancer, delivered the rap with genuine commitment. But the format collided with a room full of celebrities who had no advance warning, creating a mismatch between performer enthusiasm and audience discomfort. The camera cuts to each named nominee, intended as a celebratory touch, backfired when "none of them looked even slightly pleased about it."

DeBose's decision to delete her Twitter account signaled the intensity of the backlash. Despite the viral humiliation, she went on to host the Tony Awards again in 2023 and 2024, suggesting the BAFTA incident didn't derail her career.

Fun Facts

DeBose attempted a British accent during the Sandy Powell verse, rapping about costumes and wigs in an imitation that The Guardian noted was performed "in a room full of British people, in Britain."

The Guardian writer couldn't even decipher one word of the Sandy Powell line because DeBose was "huffing and puffing like a Crossfit bro."

The performance followed DeBose's Academy Award win less than a year earlier, making the tonal whiplash between Oscar glory and BAFTA infamy especially stark.

Maia Kenworthy, one of the nominees DeBose shouted out, had to "jam her tongue into the side of her cheek to stop herself from laughing" during the rap.

Despite the backlash, DeBose went on to voice Asha in Disney's animated film *Wish* later in 2023.

Derivatives & Variations

"Angela Bassett Did the Thing" sound:

The specific line became a standalone TikTok audio used in lip-sync and reaction videos, detached from the rest of the performance[3].

Nominee reaction images:

Screengrabbed shots of Ana de Armas, Kerry Condon, and others were repurposed as general-purpose reaction images for expressing confusion or displeasure[1].

Musical theatre kid jokes:

The @danielleloucamp tweet about "bullying musical theatre kids" spawned its own thread of variations about the dangers of unchecked theatrical energy[3].

Frequently Asked Questions