Bella Ramsey and Ariana DeBose appear to make up at Emmys after Critics Choice Awards joke drama
Published on January 15, 2026 EDT The two stars hugged it out at Sunday's ceremony.

Sunday's Emmys ceremony was full of planned reunions, but it was a seemingly impromptu hug between Bella Ramsey and Ariana DeBose that caught many people's attention. Why? Because the embrace came just a day after The Last of Us star made a joke at the expense of the Oscar-winning West Side Story actress, one which Debose did not appreciate.

This saga began on Sunday when DeBose found herself in a moment of bewilderment at the Critics Choice Awards. While announcing the Best Song nominees, Ramsey read a scripted joke that included DeBose in a list of "actors who also think that they are singers," along with Jack Black and Ryan Gosling. The camera captured DeBose's quizzical reaction as the joke unfolded. Ramsey's co-presenter Anthony Ramos, who shared the Broadway stage with DeBose in Hamilton, added a quip, suggesting the lineup was fit for the Grammy Awards.

Jon Kopaloff/Getty; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic

DeBose later took to her Instagram Story to clarify her reaction to the joke and wrote, "No I didn’t find it funny. Lol."

Cut to Monday, and it seemed like all was forgiven, or at least enough was forgiven for DeBose to put on a show of making nice with Ramsey. During the course of the Emmys, writer and pop culture maven Evan Ross Katz posted to Instagram a photo of the pair hugging at the ceremony.

"Incredible!" Katz wrote in the accompanying message. "Here’s Bella Ramsey and Academy Award-winner Ariana DeBose hugging at tonight’s Emmy Awards."

The Last of Us? More like, "Just the Two of Us."

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