Social media prankster crashes Best Film Speech, BAFTA is taking it "very seriously"

The BAFTA 2024 saw a social media prankster crash the presentation of the best film winner on Sunday.

During the climatic presentation, BBC One footage caught an alleged "social media prankster" walking onto the stage alongside director Christopher Nolan, producers Emma Thomas and Charles Roven, and star Cillian Murphy to receive the best film award for Oppenheimer from Michael J. Fox.

The prankster was detained shortly after by the BAFTA security team, and a spokesperson representing the coveted ceremony claimed that they were taking this very seriously. This means that there could be consequences for the trespasser this time.

Interestingly, this is not the first ceremony that this YouTube prankster invaded. BAFTA has not discussed much about this prankster in order to curb the publicity he hopes to get by doing these pranks.

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BAFTA slams prankster for crashing ceremony

The awarding body has responded very strongly after security took hold of the alleged prankster following the best film award to Oppenheimer. The prankster seemingly walked to the stage after Emma Thomas asked the rest of the Oppenheimer team to join them. He stood near Thomas as she spoke.

In a recent statement by a BAFTA spokesperson to Variety, a spokesperson representing the award ceremony said:

"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."

During the ceremony, only a few of the viewers actually noticed the prankster, who was only identified by his YouTuber name, Lizwani. According to reports, this social media influencer has previously infiltrated some huge award ceremonies, like the Fifa Ballon d’Or and the Brit Awards in 2022.

None of the members of Oppenheimer responded when the prankster joined them on stage.

Following the acceptance speech and a round of applause from the entire crowd, the social media influencer was apprehended by security.

Due to BAFTA's attempts to keep this prankster from getting further fame, we only have a few details about the entire ordeal. It is not clear what the awarding body plans to do or how it plans to stop such infiltrations from becoming routine in future ceremonies.

This is the first time this award ceremony has been invaded in its long history.

The ceremony was reportedly watched by over 3 million viewers, with a peak of around 3.8 million.

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Oppenheimer won seven awards, including best actor for Cillian Murphy and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.