Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge arrive at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Photo / AP
Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge arrive at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Photo / AP
The last glitzy awards show before the Oscars has wrapped, with the BAFTAS taking place in London today.
And it was Australian actress Rebel Wilson who stole the show, making jokes about Prince Andrew, box office flop Cats, coronavirus and a lack of female nominees.
Presenting Best Director at the73rd British Academy Film Awards, Wilson opened her spiel saying, "It's really great to be here at the Royal Andrew... Royal Albert Hall".
The camera flashed to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who looked less than impressed by the reference to their controversial family member, who has received global backlash for his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
She then moved her attention to the epic failure that was Cats, which she starred in, making reference to her black and red dress.
"The red is from that one time I didn't win Miss Australia. And the black is from a funeral I just went to for the feature film Cats," she said.
"Cats... Strangely not nominated for any awards. Even in this best director CATegory."
Rebel also made a cheeky jab about females being under-represented in the awards as she prepared to announce Best Director, which went to Sam Mendes for 1917.
"I don't think I could do what they (directors) do. I haven't got the balls," she said, which was met with roaring laughs.
At first I thought the notable absence of laughter during the shockingly bad award presentations at #BAFTA2020 was due to a lack of mics in the audience.
The comedian then shielded her face with a BAFTA mask as a way of protecting herself from coronavirus, rounding out her hilarious monologue.
Rebel was praised on social media for "winning" the BAFTAs.
The issue of diversity - or a lack thereof - was the recurring theme throughout the night.
As was the same case when the Oscars nominations dropped last month, the BAFTAS copped controversy for failing to acknowledge people of colour in its list of nominations, with #BAFTAsSoWhite trending on Twitter at the time.
BAFTA president Prince William weighed into the debate.
"We find ourselves talking about the need to do more to address diversity in this sector," he said.
"This can not be right in this day and age.
"BAFTA take this issue seriously and have commissioned a thorough review."
Best Actor winner Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) said he was "part of the problem" when accepting his award.
"I feel conflicted because so many of my fellow actors that are deserving don't have that same privilege," he said.
"I think we send a very clear message to people of colour that you're not welcome here.
"I don't think anybody wants a handout or preferential treatment, people just want to be acknowledged, appreciated and respected for their work.
1917 won a total of 7 categories including Best Film and Best Director. Photo / AP
This is not a self-righteous condemnation. I'm part of the problem."
Earlier, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Scarlett Johansson and Margot Robbie hit the red carpet in a glamorous display of the world's most famous faces.
