Bafta-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan has spoken out about the controversial ‘bag lady’ joke that led Stephen Fry to delete his Twitter account.
Beavan, who won the award for her work on Mad Max: Fury Road, has claimed the comment didn’t offend her as the pair are close, something Fry had already expressed.
“Yes we are friends, and I am absolutely not upset,” she told the Telegraph. “But I don’t want to talk any further because if I talk about it it will just create more fuss”.
During Sunday night’s ceremony, Fry said of Beavan: “Only one of the great cinematic costume designers would come to an awards ceremony dressed as a bag lady”. The joke went down badly on Twitter, with users unaware that Fry and Beavan are good friends.
Fry initially responded to critical tweets and defended his joke in a series of angry updates. “Will all you sanctimonious fuckers fuck the fuck off Jenny Beavan is a friend and joshing is legitimate,” he wrote. “Christ I want to leave the planet”.
He then deleted his account, explaining on his official site that it was a “massive relief”.
“But you’ve let the trolls and nasties win!” he wrote. “If everyone did what you did, Stephen, the slab-faced dictators of tone and humour would have the place to themselves. Well, yes and they’re welcome to it. Perhaps then they’ll have nothing to smell but their own smell.”
Beavan worked with Fry on Gosford Park and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. She is also nominated for an Oscar for her work on Mad Max: Fury Road, having previously won for A Room with a View.
