Ariana DeBose responds to "disrespectful" joke about her at Critics Choice Awards

15 January 2024, 12:39

Ariana Debose attends Critics Choice Awards

By Katie Louise Smith

"The disrespect to Academy Award winner, Tony nominee, Broadway star, Ariana DeBose is WILD."

A mere week after Jo Koy and the writers of his Golden Globes monologue were slammed over their jokes about Barbie, Oppenheimer and Taylor Swift, Ariana DeBose has criticised a joke made about her at the Critics Choice Awards.

Last night (Jan 14), the Critics Choice Awards took place in Los Angeles, where Ariana's track from the Disney movie Wish was nominated for Best Song.

However, when the nominees for the award were introduced, Ariana was quite taken aback by the weird joke that was made about her, seemingly dismissing her as one of the "actors who also think that they are singers".

The camera caught her understandably perplexed reaction, and she's now responded to it on Instagram Stories.

On the night, the award for Best Song was presented by Bella Ramsey and Anthony Ramos. In their scripted intro before announcing the winner, they read off a joke about how one half of the songs in the category were performed "by some of the most famous voices in the music industry," while the other half were performed by "actors who also think that they are singers".

The former included Billie Eilish, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa, and the latter name-checked Jack Black, Ryan Gosling and Ariana.

As the camera caught Ariana's reaction, she looked on completely confused as to why she'd been labelled as an "actor who thinks that they're a singer".

Ariana, incase you're not familiar, is an actress, singer and dancer who recently won an Oscar for her show-stopping performance as Anita in West Side Story. The musical performer and Broadway star has also been nominated for a Tony and she was part of the original Hamilton cast with Anthony Ramos.

Responding to the joke after the ceremony, Ariana took to Instagram Stories to confirm how she felt about the quip. "No, I didn't find it funny," she wrote.

Fans online also didn't find it funny, and called out the "disrespectful" comment. One user wrote: "The disrespect to Academy Award winner, Tony nominee, Broadway star, Ariana DeBose is WILD. The look on her face really said it all."

Another added: "Ariana DeBose, Oscar award winning, Tony nominated, OG cast member of Hamilton on BROADWAY…. “THINKS she’s a singer”?!?"

Others also made sure to clarify neither Bella nor Anthony were to blame for the joke, as they did not write it.

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