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Stephen Fry has left the Twittersphere after he faced a backlash for a joke he made during Sunday's BAFTAs ceremony in London. The 58-year-old - who was on presenting duty at the awards ceremony - shut down his account after saying he "wanted to leave the planet" when viewers reacted badly to a gag he made about costume designer Jenny Beavan's outfit.
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The 11-time BAFTAs host made the joke as Jenny walked off stage after collecting her award for Best Costume Design on Mad Max: Fury Road. Rather than wearing a red carpet-style gown, Jenny was dressed in a leather jacket, white T-shirt and pants and scarf, which had Stephen remarking: "Only one of the greatest cinematic costume designers would come to the awards ceremony dressed like a bag lady."
Stephen Fry deleted his Twitter account after his BAFTAs joke was badly received
Stephen first took to social media to defend his joke, after fans demanded he apologize.
"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," he wrote, adding: "Christ I want to leave the planet."
At the BAFTA afterparty he posted a picture of himself and Jenny together with the caption: "Jenny Baglady Beavan and Stephen Outrageous Misogynist Swine Fry."
Stephen joked that costume designer Jenny Beavan looked like a "bag lady"
Stephen has since decided to leave the social networking site completely, and deleted his Twitter account, much to the shock of fans.
The star has something of a love-hate relationship with social media. Though he's a regular Twitterer, he has in the past recognized that there's "too much aggression and unkindness around" on the site and in Novemember 2014 he stopped using it for a while as he felt it was not safe. In 2015 he shut his Instagram down after telling fans he had been chased away from the photo-sharing site.
