The Australian comedian brought the house down while presenting the Best Director Award.
Well, that was awkward...
Rebel Wilson had no problem poking fun at recent royal controversies on Sunday night at the 2020 BAFTA Awards. With Prince William and Kate Middleton sitting in the audience as royal patrons, the Australian actress and comedian took to the stage as a presenter in the Best Director category, taking the opportunity to crack lots of jokes.
"It is really great to be here at the Royal Andrew... uh, Royal Harry, no, at this Royal Palace place," she quipped while inside the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The camera then cut to William and Kate, who kept their faces neutral as Wilson referenced William's disgraced uncle, Prince Andrew, and brother, Prince Harry.
Prince Andrew has been embroiled in scandal recently due to his connections to the late billionaire, Jeffrey Epstein, his own accusations against him, and his unwillingness to speak with the FBI about Epstein. Amid the scandal, Andrew has stepped down from his royal duties.
Unrelated to Andrew's current situation, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, recently left the royal family, were stripped of their HRH titles, and are now splitting their time between Canada and the U.K.
Wilson wasn't afraid of giving herself a hard time either, joking about wearing the black half of her custom Prabal Gurung gown to the "funeral" for her movie Cats, which was critically panned.
"Cats, strangely not nominated for any awards. I'm not sure if everyone here is across the controversy, but this year there has been a distinct lack of nominations for felines," she quipped, referencing the BAFTA controversy surrounding a lack of diversity for nominees this year. "Even in this Best Director cat-egory, no felines have been nominated."
She then went on to name the all-male Best Director nominees, joking, "I don't think I could do what they do. Honestly, I just don't have the balls."
Prince William, the royal patron for BAFTA, also acknowledged the lack of diversity in his speech at the annual award show.
"We find ourselves talking again about the need to do more to address diversity in the sector. That cannot be right in this day and age. I know [BAFTA executives] Pippa [Harris] and Amanda [Berry] share that frustration. BAFTA take this issue seriously, and following this year’s nominations have launched a full review… to ensure the opportunities are available to everyone," the Duke of Cambridge said.
Wilson wasn't the only star to make a Prince Harry reference at the BAFTAs. Brad Pitt, who did not attend the show, threw in a quip about the Duke of Sussex in his speech, read by co-star Margot Robbie.
"Hey Britain, heard you just became single -- welcome to the club," Pitt wrote. He added that he planned to call his award "Harry," because he was "really excited about bringing [it] back to the States."
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