Ariana DeBose and Bella Ramsey shared a hug at the 2023 Emmys, appearing to have put a harsh Critics Choice Awards joke aimed at DeBose behind them.
Oscar winner DeBose and “The Last of Us” actor Ramsey could be seen embracing at the ceremony inside the Peacock Theater on Monday evening during a commercial break, according to a photo of the moment posted by pop culture writer Evan Ross Katz.
The previous night at the Critics Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Ramsey and Anthony Ramos were presenters for the song award. Before handing off the award to the “Barbie” track “I’m Just Ken,” Ramsey read a joke off a teleprompter about “the actors who also think they are singers,” a list that included Jack Black, Ryan Gosling and, oddly enough, Tony-winning singer and actor DeBose. The latter also won a supporting actress Oscar (the first out queer person of color to win an Academy Award for acting) for her performance in the 2021 musical film “West Side Story.”
After Ramsey read the joke to a smattering of laughs and applause, the cameras fixed on DeBose, who sat with a quizzical look on her face.
“No I didn’t find it funny. Lol,” DeBose shared after the awards show on her Instagram story. And Jamie Lee Curtis backed her up in her since-deleted Instagram post, according to multiple reports, showing Ramsey’s joke and a montage of DeBose’s musical theater chops with the caption, “Are you f— kidding me! Ariana DeBose is a queen,” with the hashtags “#backthef—off” and “shutthef—up.”
The Critics Choice writers were likely behind the joke and possibly were riffing off DeBose’s divisive performance last year at the BAFTAs, which drew online mockery that ultimately drove the actor off X, formerly Twitter. Even so, Ramsey caught heat for its delivery, as some online blamed her for showing poor form.
At the Emmys, during which Ramsey was nominated for lead actor in a drama series, her embrace of DeBose seemed to indicate there is zero ill will between the two queer icons, much to the delight of their fans.
“I still can’t believe people bagged on Bella who was literally just reading a line given to them,” one user wrote in the comments beneath Katz’s photo of the pair. “Like it’s not their fault it’s the writer’s fault.”
Another user wrote, “Two powerful queer people not letting anything get in between them.”
