Stephen Fry retaliated against criticism of his joke about Bafta-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan.
After she won the award for her work in Mad Max: Fury Road, Fry, who has presented the awards since 2001, commented: “Only one of the great cinematic costume designers would come to an awards ceremony dressed as a bag lady.”
The joke wasn’t unanimously well-received by many on Twitter who saw it as an insult, unaware that Fry and Beavan are close friends.
He then responded angrily on Twitter to the “sanctimonious” number who were offended. In tweets which are now unavailable, as Fry has since deleted his account, he said:
Will all you sanctimonious fuckers fuck the fuck off Jenny Beavan is a friend and joshing is legitimate. Christ I want to leave the planet
And:
So just a word to the tragic figures who think calling Jenny Bevan [sic] a bag lady was an insult. She’s a dear friend and she got it. Derr
Fry then proceeded to retweet users who supported the joke and his humour and respond personally to those who mentioned him in tweets. After one user suggested the joke might lose him his status as national treasure, he wrote: “Christ, I fucking hope so”.
He worked with Beavan on both Gosford Park and Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows.
It’s not the only joke which has caused offence during Sunday’s ceremony with presenter Rebel Wilson also causing ire by saying she is “practising her transgender face” in order to win a Bafta next year.
