If you question Ariana DeBose’s singing ability, Jamie Lee Curtis will find you and will kill you … with F-bombs.
On Sunday, presenter Bella Ramsey read a pretty mean-spirited joke off a teleprompter during the Critics Choice Awards that implied DeBose can’t sing.
Considering that the Broadway star won an Oscar for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story,” DeBose’s fans were outraged — including Curtis.
The “Halloween” star, in a now-deleted post on Instagram that was widely reported on by multiple outlets, unleashed her disapproval.
“Are you fucking kidding me!” Curtis reportedly wrote. “Ariana DeBose is a queen.”
Curtis followed that up with two hashtags that emphasized her fucking annoyance: “#backthefuckoff” and “#shutthefuckup.”
It’s unclear if Curtis was referring to Ramsey or the Critics Choice Awards in her remarks or why Curtis deleted her post. HuffPost has reached out to Curtis for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
On Sunday night, Ramsey and Anthony Ramos were presenting the award for Best Original Song and began a bit about how the nominees (including “This Wish” from Disney’s “Wish,” sung by DeBose) were split between two types of singers. Half of the songs in the category were “delivered by some of the most famous voices in the music industry,” such as Billie Eilish, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa.
“Then there are the actors who also think that they’re singers ― Jack Black, Ariana DeBose and Ken himself, Ryan Gosling,” Ramsey said.
The camera then panned to DeBose, who looked confused.
The situation was pretty weird. Not only was DeBose the butt of the joke, but Ramos, who was presenting the award with Ramsey, had worked with DeBose on Broadway in “Hamilton.” The joke also fell flat in its insults of Black, who has sung in the comedy duo Tenacious D since the 1990s, and Gosling, who got his break singing and dancing on “The Mickey Mouse Club” and won acclaim in the 2016 movie musical “La La Land.” The best song winner was “I’m Just Ken,” Gosling’s song from “Barbie.”
Yet despite the snarky joke, there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between Ramsey and DeBose. The two were photographed hugging at the Emmy Awards the next night, according to People.