When celebrities attend awards shows, they can count on getting all glammed up, walking the red carpet and possibly receiving an award. Sometimes, however, the honorees in the crowd also find themselves the subject of comments from those on stage that don’t always paint them in the most positive light. We’ve seen this a couple of times recently, when Jo Koy joked about Taylor Swift in his much-maligned Golden Globes monologue, and Ariana DeBose also spoke out about a comment made about her at the Critics Choice Awards. Now Jamie Lee Curtis has responded to the latter with an F-bomb-laden post in defense of the Wish star.
At the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, Bella Ramsey and Anthony Ramos listed the “famous voices” nominated for Best Song, before The Last of Us star joked that Ariana DeBose was among “the actors who also think that they’re singers,” along with Jack Black and Ryan Gosling. The backlash was immediate, and Jamie Lee Curtis was certainly caught off-guard as well, posting on Instagram:
ARE YOU F-INFG KIDDING ME! Ariana DeBose IS A QUEEN! #backthefuckoff #shutthefuckup
Those are some pretty strong words, and I certainly wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of three F-bombs from the iconic actress. It should be pointed out that Jamie Lee Curtis was very likely NOT lodging this reaction at Bella Ramsey — who was merely reading from the teleprompter — and that Curtis’ bone to pick was most certainly with the Critics Choice Awards’ writers.
The Halloween star called Ariana DeBose a “queen,” and after the seemingly disrespectful comment, her fans were quick to list DeBose’s accomplishments, which include an Academy Award for West Side Story and a Tony nomination for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. She was also a member of the original cast of Hamilton on Broadway and hosted the Tony Awards in 2022 and 2023.
It certainly seemed strange to throw her name into the mix with Jack Black and Ryan Gosling, since they seem to fit the description of “actors who sing” more so than Ariana DeBose. She didn’t seem too pleased with the joke either, as she appeared confused when the camera panned to show her reaction during the broadcast. She later addressed the issue herself on Instagram Stories, with a post that read, “No, I didn’t find it funny. Lol.”
She may have felt disrespected in that moment, but it must feel pretty good to have icons like Jamie Lee Curtis having your back.
You can see Ariana DeBose in Disney’s Wish, which is currently available to preorder on Amazon. You can also see her Oscar-winning performance in 2021’s West Side Story, and her role in Hamilton which are both available to stream with a Disney+ subscription.
