Prankster Crashes 'Oppenheimer' Best Film Speech, BAFTAs Not Amused

By Emily Richardson | Film | February 19, 2024 |

By Emily Richardson | Film | February 19, 2024 |

Last night, Oppenheimer took home Best Film at the BAFTAs. Producer Emma Thomas collected the award and delivered the acceptance speech. She was flanked by director/screenwriter Christopher Nolan, star Cillian Murphy, producer Charles Roven, and … some dude. Wait, who was this tall man standing behind Emma? Turns out, it was a YouTube prankster named Lizwani. Nobody reacted to his presence, and he didn’t do anything but stand there and act like he belonged.

The BAFTAs were not amused by Lizwani crashing the awards. Today, they issued this statement to Variety:

“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.”

Here’s how it went down: when the real Oppenheimer team walked up onstage to accept their award, Emma took the mic and urged the rest of the cast (Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr.) to come up with them: “Where are you? Come on, all of you!” It was at this precise moment that Lizwani joined the recipients onstage. Ha! A stroke of luck from the trickster gods.

This isn’t the first time Lizwani crashed an awards show. In 2022, he went to the FIFA Ballon d’Or in Paris. He didn’t make it very far on that occasion; halfway through the ceremony, he was escorted out by security.

Here’s the BAFTAs clip:

The BAFTAs may be shocked and appalled, but, as far as obnoxious social media stunts go, I think this one’s pretty harmless. Other than trespassing, Lizwani’s greatest crime was that his prank was boring. Bring back streakers!