Ariana DeBose unamused at being butt of joke at Critics Choice: 'Not funny'

The curse of the flat falling jokes at award shows continues. After the Golden Globes Jo Koy fiasco, Ariana DeBose took cue from Taylor Swift and didn't go along with a joke made at her expense at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards on Sunday. While presenting the award for the best song category, Last of Us actress Bella Ramsey listed off the “famous voices” in the category – including the likes of Billie Eilish and Lenny Kravitz – before joking, “And there are the actors who also think that they’re singers: Jack Black, Ariana DeBose, Ryan Gosling.” The camera then cut to DeBose in the audience, who clearly looked unimpressed by the jab, before quickly moving on to a laughing Ryan Gosling in order to cut the tension.

However, DeBose – who was nominated for her song The Wish – didn’t let the joke slide, making her feelings perfectly clear. “No I didn’t find it funny,” she wrote to her Instagram Stories following the award ceremony. DeBose’s fans swiftly banded behind her for support, calling out the show’s writers for blatantly disrespecting the Broadway star.

“The disrespect to Academy Award winner, Tony nominee, Broadway star, Ariana DeBose is WILD. The look on her face really said it all,” one person fumed, with another demanding, “Put some respect on Ariana DeBose name!”.