As stars partied, the prize for the best Bafta prank went to...
A PRANKSTER was able to invade the stage just feet from where Prince William and some of the biggest names in film were sitting at the Baftas on Sunday night, it has emerged.
The YouTube personality, known as Lizwani, followed Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas – the movie’s producer – as well as the film’s star Cillian Murphy as they went to accept the best film gong.
The young man stood behind them during their acceptance speech. But he was later removed from the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank, where the awards took place. A Bafta spokesman said: ‘A social media prankster was removed by security last night after joining the winners of the final award on
‘Me and Murphy receiving our award’
stage. We are taking this very seriously and don’t wish to grant him any publicity by commenting further.’
Lizawni ran up behind the group and stood next to Murphy, who was seen glancing sideways at him.
The prankster shared a screenshot of the moment from iPlayer with the caption: ‘Here’s me and Cian [sic] Murphy receiving our Bafta Award.’
Also on stage was host David Tennant and actor Michael J Fox, who presented the award. Bafta president William was sitting in the audience just feet away.
Lizwani, who has 8,000 followers on YouTube, has form for such stunts, having gate-crashed the VIP area of the Brits in 2022 by disguising himself as a chef. Many of the stars in attendance dispersed into London for after-parties following the ceremony. Best actress winner Emma Stone joined Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal at a Netflix bash at the Chiltern Firehouse in Marylebone.
In Mayfair, model Kaia Gerber wore a sparkly gold minidress to Vogue’s gathering at the Annabel’s club. Earlier, Scott had walked away from a BBC interview after being asked ‘inappropriate’ questions about fellow Irishman Barry Keoghan’s naked Saltburn scene.
The BBC was also slammed for announcing the winners in news alerts before they’d been revealed on screen.