Don’t shoot the messenger! Brad Pitt was unable to attend the 2020 BAFTA Awards in London on Sunday, February 2, so Margot Robbie accepted Best Actor in a Supporting Role on his behalf. However, when she read his prepared speech aloud, the actress felt inclined to remind the audience, “His words, not mine!”
“Hey, Britain! Heard you just became single. Welcome to the club,” the speech began, referencing Brexit and Pitt’s divorce from Angelina Jolie. “Wishing you the best with the divorce settlement.”
After calling the award “especially meaningful,” Pitt, 56, thanked Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino, producers David Heyman and Shannon McIntosh and others who worked on the film.
“And he says, um, that he’s going to name this Harry,” Robbie, 29, continued, holding up the trophy. “‘Cause, uh, he is really excited about bringing it back to the States with him.”
As the I, Tonya star ran off the stage, the cameras cut to Prince William and Duchess Kate in the audience. The Duke of Cambridge, 37, awkwardly smiled and clapped as the Duchess of Cambridge, 38, laughed and looked over at her husband.
Pitt’s joke, of course, came nearly one month after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their plans to step back from the British royal family and divide their time between the U.K. and North America. After the bombshell news broke on January 8, Queen Elizabeth II agreed to the transition. Buckingham Palace later announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who share 8-month-old son Archie, will no longer use their His and Her Royal Highness titles.
A source told Us Weekly exclusively at the time that William “feels totally let down by [Harry’s] ‘reckless’ and ‘selfish’ actions,” and Kate is “incredibly hurt too.” More recently, a second insider revealed that Kate misses her brother-in-law “and fears she’ll never be close to him again.”
Pitt was not the only actor to make an awkward joke in front of William and Kate at Sunday’s awards show. Before presenting the award for Best Director, Rebel Wilson jokingly pretended to forget the name of the Royal Albert Hall, where the ceremony took place.
“It is really great to be here at the Royal Andrew … Royal Harry … no, sorry, Royal Phillip … at this royal palace,” the Pitch Perfect star, 39, said, referencing the embattled Prince Andrew as the cameras once again cut to William and Kate.
