Stephen Fry Quits Twitter Over BAFTA 'Bag Lady' Gag

Stephen Fry declared he wants to ‘leave the planet’ after he was slated on Twitter for calling one of the BAFTA winners a 'bag lady’.

And he now appears to have deleted his account over the row too.

In a furious, swear-laden rebuke, the comedian and host of last night’s awards show revealed that the woman at the receiving end of the joke is his friend.

Jenny Beavan scooped the gong for costume design for her work on 'Mad Max: Fury Road’, and was dressed down for the ceremony in a leather jacket and scarf.

Fry then quipped: “Only one of the great cinematic costume designers would come to an awards ceremony dressed as a bag lady.”

The 58-year-old star has worked with Beavan on movies like 'Gosford Park’ and 'Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows’, but was soon being slated for the joke.

He soon hit back, tweeting:

“So just a word to the tragic figures who think calling Jenny Bevan a bag lady was an insult. She’s a dear friend and she got it. Derrr,” he added.

His Twitter account is now inactive.

Fellow funnyman Matt Lucas tweeting in his support, however: “Didn’t you get the memo? No-one is allowed to do jokes anymore.”

Another user suggested that the joke could have lost him his status as a 'national treasure’.

Fry replied: “Christ, I f**king hope so.”

He also skirted the edges of good taste during his opening monologue, with a reference to paedophilia.

“Love abounds this year in film,” he said. “The love between two women, love between a young Irish girl and an Italian American, love between Catholic priests and … ”.

Pausing for effect, some audience members gasped, while others clapped.

He was referring to the child abuse in the Catholic church as exposed in the Oscar-hopeful ‘Spotlight’.

It was the 15th year that Fry had presented the annual awards show for BAFTA.

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Image credits: PA/Reuters