STEPHEN FRY’S FOUL- MOUTHED RANT AFTER BAFTA ‘ BAG LADY’ JOKE BACKFIRES
COMIC Stephen Fry quit Twitter with a foul- mouthed rant yesterday over a backlash for his “bag lady” jibe at the Baftas.
Fry came in for online abuse over a remark about costume designer Jenny Beavan, who scooped the award for her work on the movie Mad Max: Fury Road.
Beavan, 65, appeared on stage at the London event wearing a scarf with a floaty, layered outfit.
She also broke tradition by wearing a leather jacket on top.
Fry, 58, who was hosting the event, quipped: “Only one of the great cinematic costume designers would come to the awards ceremony dressed like a bag lady.”
But as he faced a torrent of criticism, Fry, who has hosted the ceremony since 2001, grew increasingly agitated.
He deleted his Twitter account after an expletive- filled rant on Sunday night – branding people who complained on social media as “sanctimonious *******”.
Fry explained that the comment was a joke between friends. He wrote: “So just a word to the tragic figures who think calling Jenny Beavan a bag lady was an insult. She’s a dear friend and she got it. Derrr.”
Relief
In an angrier expletive- ridden second tweet, he said: “Jenny Beavan is a friend and joshing is legitimate. Christ, I want to leave the planet.”
He then shared a picture of himself and Jenny together at a post- Baftas party. He captioned it: “Jenny Bag Lady Beavan and Stephen Outrageous Misogynist Swine Fry.”
Popular Fry had more than 12 million followers on Twitter.
Speaking later about his decision to quit the site, he said he “doesn’t feel anything other than massive relief” and that he was “free at last”.
Fry also posted an explanation on his official website, titled “Too many people have peed in the pool”.
But he hinted that he may not have given up social networking for ever.
He wrote: “I like to believe I haven’t slammed the door, much less stalked off in a huff throwing my toys out of the pram as I go. It’s quite simple really – the room had started to smell. Really quite bad.”
The actor and QI quiz show host reminisced about early days on Twitter and described what he called its decline. He said it had changed from “a secret bathing- pool in a magical glade” to a stagnant pool that is “frothy with scum, clogged with weeds and littered with broken glass, sharp rocks and slimy rubbish”.
Fry said Twitter had become a “stalking ground” for “foul people” and pointed out that no matter what was being defended the “ghastliness is absolutely the same”.
It is the third time he has left the site and his latest exit met with a mixed reaction from Twitter users.
Kristian Carter wrote: “Your business is being in the news. Get over yourself.”
But a supporter tweeted: “I hope the people who drove Stephen Fry off Twitter are happy with themselves. Really didn’t deserve the backlash in my opinion.”
Fans of Fry have now launched a Get Stephen Back hashtag.
Fry was also criticised on Twitter after his Baftas introduction to actor Eddie Redmayne.
Redmayne played disabled scientist Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything and took on a transgender role in The Danish Girl.
Fry, who is gay, joked: “He has been a man trapped in his own body, a woman trapped in a man’s body and, if I had my way, a man trapped in my basement.”