Ariana DeBose Shares Where She Stands With Bella Ramsey After Critics Choice Awards Joke (Exclusive)

The perfomers shared a hug at last week's Emmy Awards following a controversial joke during the Critics Choice Awards.

Ariana DeBose has no bad blood with Bella Ramsey.

Following a controversial joke when Ramsey presented the Best Song award at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards earlier this month, DeBose told ET that she "loves" The Last of Us star.

"Bella is a shining light in this industry," DeBose told ET at the London premiere for her new film, Argylle, on Wednesday. "As far as we are concerned, we are good. Again, it is all love."

At the Critics Choice Awards on Jan. 14, DeBose -- an Academy Award winner and Tony nominee -- was seemingly caught off guard when presenters Ramsey and Anthony Ramos took the stage and made a joke that seemed to accuse her of being unable to sing

"And then there are the actors who also think that they're singers," Ramsey said during the show, naming, "Jack Black, Ariana DeBose, and Ken himself, Ryan Gosling." 

The camera quickly cut to DeBose -- a Broadway veteran who appeared in Hamilton and won an Oscar for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation of West Side Story -- who did not look impressed by the comment.

Fans quickly wondered whether the sketch was a bit and DeBose later took to her Instagram Story to comment on the joke, writing, "No I didn't find it funny. Lol."

However, DeBose and Ramsey were spotted sharing a hug at the 2023 Emmy Awards last week, which seemed to confirm that the scripted bit was water under the bridge.

As for how DeBose keeps finding herself mixed up in viral awards show moments -- terminally online fans may remember how "Angela Basset did the thing" -- the actress had a good sense of humor about it, and reiterated to ET how much she loves "celebrating people's hard work and their achievements."

"Nothing that happens to me will keep me from attending the act of celebrating a community that I love," she shared.

As for her mysterious new role in the spy thriller Argylle, DeBose said that working with directer Matthew Vaughn and attending the film's glamorous premiere events was a welcome return to her Tinseltown dreams.

"For me, cinema is an event, and it's so nice to be in this space with a film that I love," she shared. "To see it debut into the world in such a fashion, to me, it hearkens back to the good old days of Hollywood, when you got dressed up to go to the movies. I think the tradition of that is really wonderful."

Argylle is in theaters on Feb. 2 and will later be released on Apple TV+.

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