At the NAACP Image Awards, Black Panther star Angela Bassett received an enthusiastic response when she said she "did the thing," bringing an odd viral moment to an inevitable, glorious conclusion.
It all started a week ago (was it really only a week ago?) when Bassett was mentioned by fellow American actress Ariana DeBose in a rap honoring female nominees at the Bafta Awards.
". Viola Davis, my Woman King / Blanchett, Cate, you're a genius, and Jamie Lee, you are all of us—Angela Bassett did the right thing! ".
DeBose's song caused controversy. Critics described it as embarrassing. The shoulder-shimmy that goes along with the Angela Bassett song was singled out as being particularly agonizing.
In response to the criticism, DeBose deleted her Twitter account. Then came the response to the response.
Fans defended the line as endearing, silly, and kitsch, and a number of well-known figures, including Adele, Lizzo, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Bassett herself, came out in support of DeBose.
All of this helped the performance and the phrase become instantly recognizable.
How often did she do "the thing," what was "the thing," and with whom?
The apparent allusion was to Bassett's stirring portrayal of Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
However, the lyric is so nebulous as to seem enticingly random, and social media has taken pleasure in the fact that it can be endlessly customized for any person and any circumstance.
Last week, Raven Smith of Vogue magazine admitted that he had been seduced by the original footage.
I physically can't stop watching it again, he wrote. "After getting over my initial shock and intrigue, I moved on to a point of enjoyment before entering a morbid state of fascination where I rubberneck the awkward audience reactions and analyze the intricate hand-ography. ".
The most famous and eerie rendition of Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves that ever transitioned into a rap serenading female Bafta nominees should make each of us feel fortunate, he continued.
We appeared to be living history, in my opinion. We call this the Waterloo. ".
Stuart Heritage of The Guardian expressed less enthusiasm for the performance, calling it "gormless," "deeply and unsettlingly confusing," and "one of the all-time great berserk musical performances ever seen.".
But he did concur that it had a long-lasting effect. Oral histories about Angela Bassett Did the Thing will be written in the future, he predicted. "Movies about it will be produced. ".
The significance of "the thing" increased over the course of the week, quickly evolving into the best and newest meme on the internet.
By the weekend, a gay nightclub in Limehouse, London, had a remix of the rap playing on the dance floor.
DeBose, who was by this point enjoying the response, also shared videos of Adele and Lizzo using her catchphrase during performances.
"I certainly don't have anything to catch you up on with my week," Adele said to her Las Vegas audience. However, we did discover that Angela Bassett was the culprit, didn't we?
"But she and Ariana are both loved by me. ".
The internet is crazy, y'all, thanks for the love, DeBose retorted. ".
Then, on Saturday night at the NAACP Awards, Bassett repeated the line to thunderous applause.
She wiggled her shoulders and exclaimed, "I guess Angela Bassett did the thing!" as she accepted the award for entertainer of the year.
The video has already received 1.7 million views in one tweet. "Angela Bassett did the thing" finally comes full circle! Angela is hilarious," reads the accompanying post.
In addition to winning best supporting actress in a movie for her work in the Black Panther sequel, Bassett also won best actress in a drama series for her work in the TV show 9-1-1.
The next day, DeBose brought up the go-viral occasion when she and Diego Luna, a Star Wars actor, presented a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award.
To more cheers, DeBose said, "Diego, do the thing," asking Luna to present the list of nominees.
In an interview with DeBose on Monday, BBC Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball said her Bafta performance had received rave reviews from her listeners. .
You might be one of the few, the Oscar-winning actress said in response. But since you're my people, I'll accept it. ".
"Honestly, it's not like I was like, Hey Bafta, let me in," she continued. Believe it or not, they actually called me.
The task was to invite people to a celebration of women. I replied, "Absolutely.". We did that, and it was enjoyable. I won't lie. It was awesome. ".
And apparently gay Twitter users like it, she continued. That's good, then. ".
On the red carpet on Saturday, Bassett endorsed the routine and revealed to Variety that she had texted DeBose to see how she was doing in the wake of all the controversy.
She said, "I DM'd her last night.". "The performance was stunning. It's a lot of attention, so I just wanted to be sure she was okay. And she's fine. ".
DeBose's rap refers to Jamie Lee Curtis as "all of us," and she treated the star's critics with contempt.
At the SAG Awards, she told Deadline that DeBose was "a fantastic talent" and sternly instructed her detractors to "shut the [expletive] up" and "back the [expletive] off.".
For me, it was happy, joyful, celebratory, sisterly, hot, spicy, and she's just so incredibly talented, said Curtis.
. "
