The Internet Lost Its Mind Over Rebel Wilson’s #OscarsSoWhite Speech At The BAFTAs

At Sunday evening’s BAFTAs ceremony, Rebel Wilson began with a staccato intro that immediately launched into controversial territory. She lampooned awards speeches by reading one line at a time from a prepared sheet, which is already dangerous enough in the days of teleprompters. Wilson also appeared to poke fun at the Academy for finding themselves in an #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Her delivery largely saved what could have been a disastrous speech, but indeed, some people felt Wilson went too far. She first admitted never being invited to an Oscars ceremony, and the speech intentionally snowballed from there:

“As you know, they are racists. But the BAFTAs have diverse members. And that’s what we all want to see in life, isn’t it? Diverse members. One day, I hope to return here to win a BAFTA myself. I have already been practicing my transgendered face.”

Hoo boy. Wilson paused saucily and tried to move onto the Best Supporting Actor category (which Mark Rylance took), but she grew distracted and “a bit nervous” by Idris Elba’s presence in the audience: “I’m sociologically programmed to want chocolate on Valentine’s Day.” Elba’s reaction face was priceless.

Meanwhile, Twitter went a bit crazy over Rebel’s speech. Some thought it was as hilarious as Elba’s reaction would indicate:

Others did not appreciate Rebel’s humorous treatment of both transgender issues and #OscarsSoWhite.

https://twitter.com/anaserhall/status/699020149400211457

https://twitter.com/wanderingelff/status/698977335547002880

https://twitter.com/R3INAL3NA/status/698967109796302848

https://twitter.com/trans_killjoy/status/698966693461123072

https://twitter.com/ztsamudzi/status/698964837615816705

Now Watch: The Most Controversial Grammy Moments