Ariana DeBose ‘Didn’t Find’ Critics Choice Awards Joke About Her Singing ‘Funny’

In case it wasn’t clear by her reaction in real time, Ariana DeBose is making it known she wasn’t thrilled about that Critics Choice Awards joke on Sunday, January 14.

“No I didn’t find it funny. Lol,” DeBose, 32, wrote on her Instagram Story following Sunday’s awards ceremony, doubling down on her reaction to the joke made by Bella Ramsey and Anthony Ramos.

Ramsey, 20, and Ramos, 32, took the stage to present the Best Song category. Nominees included, "I'm Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling, "Dance the Night" by Dua Lipa, "Peaches" by Jack Black, "Road to Freedom" by Lenny Kravitz, "This Wish" by DeBose and "What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish. (Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” won the award.)

When discussing the presenters, Ramsey called out “the actors who also think that they're singers,” naming Black, 54, Gosling, 43, and DeBose. When the camera’s panned to the West Side Story star’s face following the dig, she looked confused and was definitely not laughing.

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Fans took to social media and shared their frustration over the comment as well.

“They came for Academy Award winner, Tony nominated, Ariana DeBose at the Critics Choice Awards. We riding at dawn. ??#CriticsChoiceAwards,” one fan posted on X (formerly Twitter). Another wrote, “The disrespect to Academy Award winner, Tony nominee, Broadway star, Ariana DeBose is WILD. The look on her face really said it all.”

A third posted, “Ariana DeBose, Oscar award winning, Tony nominated, OG cast member of Hamilton on BROADWAY…. ‘THINKS she’s a singer’?!? Who wrote this bit?! I want names #CriticsChoiceAwards.”

Prior to her Hollywood acting career, DeBose was a Broadway star. She made her stage debut in 2011 starring as Nautica in Bring It On. Of course, Broadway fans might know her the best as Martha and The Bullet in Hamilton.

Following her various stints on Broadway, DeBose went on to nab the role of Anita in 2021’s West Side Story, for which she sang — and won an Oscar.

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In 2023, DeBose also took the stage at U.K.’s London Palladium and New York City’s Lincoln Center for Ariana DeBose In Concert, proving that she is, very much, a singer.

In fact when DeBose starred alongside Pine in the 2023 animated movie Wish (the film for which she was nominated for at Critics Choice), the Don’t Worry Darling actor, 43, admitted to being nervous to sing alongside his scene partner.

“It’s just not something I do on a daily basis,” Pine told Entertainment Tonight in November 2023. “When you’re singing opposite Ariana … it’s a big deal.”

Let the record show that Black has been the lead singer of his band Tenacious D since 1994 — taking home a Grammy in 2015 — and despite Gosling’s shock at “I’m Just Ken” taking home the trophy on Sunday, he grew up singing in The Mickey Mouse Club with Britney Spears, Justin Timerbale and sang in the 2016 film La La Land. Guess the category was stacked with singers after all.