Ariana DeBose calls out Bella Ramsey’s ‘unfunny’ joke made about her at awards ceremony

‘West Side Story’ star was left unimpressed by quip made at her expense

Ariana DeBose has called out a joke made about her by Bella Ramsey and Anthony Ramos at the Critics Choice Awards.

One week after the Golden Globes occurred in Los Angeles, the latest awards ceremony on the Hollywood circuit took place, and DeBose, who won an Oscar for her role in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, was in attendance.

But the actor surprised to find herself the butt of a joke during the category for Best Song.

Ramsey, the 20-year-old star of The Last of Us, presented the award alongside In the Heights actor Ramos. In their skit ahead of the announcing the winner, Ramsey said that that tracks nominated in the category were performed “by some of the most famous voices in the music industry.”

Following this, Ramos namechecked Billie Eilish, Lenny Kravitz and Dua Lipa – but Ramsey then referred to the remaining nominees, including DeBose, Jack Black and Ryan Gosling, as “actors who also think that they are singers”.

While she didn’t specifically reference the moment, DeBose, who has starred in several Broadway musicals and has previously been nominated for a Tony Award, appeared to react to the quip on Instagram, with a post that simply said: “No I didn't find it funny. Lol.”

DeBose was nominated for a song performed in the disney film Wish. The trophy ultimately went to “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie, performed by Gosling and written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.

Barbie took home six awards in all – including Best Original Screenplay for Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach - but the big winner was Oppenheimer, which took home eight including Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan.

However, lead star Cillian Murphy lost out in the Best Actor category to Paul Giamatti, who won for The Holdovers. Both stars won at the Golden Globes earlier this month as the ceremony splits the acting categories into two genres: Drama and Comedy/Musical.

However, with Giamatti winning at the Critics Choice Awards, it cements the actor as a frontrunner for the Oscars, whose nominations will be announced later this month with the ceremony taking place in March.

Ariana DeBose said of Critics Choice Awards joke about her: ‘No I didn’t find it funny’ (Instagram)

Other winners included Emma Stone for Poor Things, Robert Downey Jr for Oppenheimer and Giamatti’s Holdovers co-star Da’Vine Joy Randolph.

Meanwhile, Chelsea Handler, who hosted the ceremony, made a jibe against her ex Jo Koy’s disastrous Golden Globes stint last week.