What costume designer Jenny Beavan has to say about Stephen Fry's 'bag lady' joke


Ainhoa Barcelona
Content Managing Editor
February 17, 2016

When Stephen Fry referred to his friend and costume designer Jenny Beavan as a "bag lady" at the BAFTAs, the TV host caused spark and outrage among viewers. However Jenny, who was dressed casually in jeans and a leather jacket for the ceremony, has insisted that she is "absolutely not upset" by the remarks.

"Yes we are friends, and I am absolutely not upset," Jenny told The Telegraph. "But I don't want to talk any further because if I talk about it, it will just create more fuss."

The "fuss" refers to the heavy criticism Stephen received after he made the joke. The 11-time BAFTAs host had said, "Only one of the greatest cinematic costume designers would come to the awards ceremony dressed like a bag lady," after Jenny collected her award.

© Photo: Getty Images

"Yes we are friends, and I am absolutely not upset," said Jenny Beavan

Stephen was forced to take to Twitter to defend his gag after fans demanded he apologise to Jenny. "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. Christ I want to leave the planet," he tweeted.

The 58-year-old also posted a picture of the duo at a BAFTA afterparty and captioned it: "Jenny Baglady Beavan and Stephen Outrageous Misogynist Swine Fry."

© Photo: Getty Images

Stephen Fry closed his Twitter account after being heavily criticised for his 'bag lady' joke

Stephen has since decided to leave the social media networking site and in a lengthy blog post on his official website, the Brit said that Twitter had become "a stalking ground for the sanctimoniously self-righteous who love to second-guess, to leap to conclusions and be offended – worse, to be offended on behalf of others they do not even know."

A couple of days after the BAFTAs, The Sun reported that Stephen and his husband Elliott Spencer were planning a fresh start in Los Angeles.

© Photo: Getty Images

He clarified in a blog post that he and husband Elliott Spencer have no plans to move to the US

However Stephen set the record straight in another post, writing: "Apparently the plan is for me to hide in Hollywood as a response to the 'Twitter storm' in which I was recently caught. Which paints me as even stupider than I believed I could be.

"According to one emailer it's The Sun newspaper that says that I'm going. But of course these things catch on and now it seems to have become a truth. Despite being nonsense from first to last."

Insisting that he has "no plans at all to swap the UK for the US", Stephen clarified that he has had a green card for years, after purchasing a property in New York in the nineties. He has since sold the property and bought a place in LA last year.

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