Ariana DeBose Gets a Laugh From Angela Bassett With 'Do the Thing' Joke at 2023 SAG Awards

The Oscar winner had no trouble poking fun at her viral BAFTA moment during Sunday's awards show.

Ariana DeBose knows how to "do the thing" when it comes to poking fun at herself.

The Oscar winner took the stage alongside Diego Luna to present at the 2023 SAG Awards on Sunday. First, the pair shared a laugh about how to quiet down the crowd -- in both Spanish and English, before DeBose beckoned to Luna to read the list of nominees.

"Diego, do the thing," she said, poking fun at her viral musical clip from the 2023 BAFTAs.

The moment was made even better by a perfectly-timed cutaway to Angela Bassett herself, who proved once again that she's in on the joke, sharing a laugh with DeBose.

The reference is to DeBose's opening for the 2023 BAFTA Awards, in which she performed "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" and "We Are Family," and the infamous original rap where she shouted out the awards show's female nominees, including the line, "Angela Bassett did the thing / Viola Davis, my woman king." 

Bassett herself even poked fun at the new meme when she accepted her Entertainer of the Year award at the 2023 NAACP Awards on Saturday.

"I guess Angela Bassett did the thing," she quipped to the audience's laughter.


The 2023 SAG Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb. 26 at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The ceremony will stream live on Netflix's YouTube channel. See the full list of winners here and stay tuned to ETonline.com for complete SAG Awards coverage.

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