Yahoo Movies BAFTA responds to YouTube prankster who gatecrashed acceptance speech
BAFTA has released a statement condemning the actions of a social media prankster who crashed the stage during last night's awards ceremony (February 18).
The man appeared alongside Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan, producers Emma Thomas and Charles Roven and lead star Cillian Murphy, who were accepting the BAFTA award for Best Film for the critically acclaimed movie.
He stood silently behind the creative team as they delivered their acceptance speech.
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Following last night's broadcast, BAFTA shared a statement confirming the incident.
"A social media prankster was removed by security last night after joining the winners of the final award on stage – we are taking this very seriously, and don't wish to grant him any publicity by commenting further," a BAFTA spokesperson told Variety.
It seems the prankster was not "removed" until after he left the stage, with the camera showing him freely walking off alongside Nolan and co.
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Some viewers were quick to mention the stage intrusion online, after it seemed to be largely unnoticed in the moment.
"So many fever dream moments from the BAFTAs last night – David Beckham and Dua Lipa presenting awards to Earth Mama and The Zone of Interest respectively – but none more so than some YouTuber getting on stage for the Oppenheimer win, and literally nobody mentioning it," tweeted one user on X.
The individual who gatecrashed the speech has been named on social media as a YouTuber named Lizwani, who is yet to respond to BAFTA's statement.
An Instagram account in Lizwani's name shared a number of Instagram Stories referencing the BAFTAs.
The BAFTA Film awards is not the first prestigious event to have been targeted by the prankster, with videos on his YouTube channel suggesting he also made it into the FIFA Ballon d'Or event in Paris and the Brit Awards back in 2022.
Oppenheimer's Best Film win was one of seven awards the movie received on the night.
The picture was nominated in 13 categories in total, with actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr both walking away with the awards for Best Leading actor and Best Supporting actor.
The BAFTA Film Awards 2024 is available to watch back on BBC iPlayer now.
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