Poor Bella! The gorgeous actress took to the stage at the Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles, Calif. to present the award for “Male Choice Web Star” alongside her hunky boyfriend Gregg Sulkin, 23. But things took a turn for the worse when it appeared that she was dissing nominee PewDiePie, who happened to be MIA for the night.
When she got up to PewDiePie’s name in the list of nominees, Bella attempted to make a joke about the difficult pronunciation of the YouTuber’s last name. “Felix something, something, something, you know what? Be here if you want to hear the rest of your name,” she said. Unfortunately, the quip was not well received.
PewDiePie fans immediately took to Twitter to slam the actress, calling her “rude” and “disrespectful,” among some other pretty nasty things. Yikes! Bella quickly caught wind of all the backlash though, and decided to respond to those who were upset with a public apology and clarification—it was just a joke!
“I knew how to say his name,” Bella tweeted on Aug. 16. “It was part of the script. A joke. I didn’t write it. Calm down. Nothing but love for @pewdiepie.” See guys, it was just one big misunderstanding — nothing to get hostile about!
Social media drama aside, Bella totally slayed on the blue carpet ahead of the show. The Duff actress looked gorgeous stepping out in a show-stopping coral mini dress featuring an elaborate embroidered design. She paired the dress with nude strappy rope sandals and a gold box clutch and of course, looked beyond amazing! Backlash or no backlash, this girl was a winner!
I knew how to say his name It was part of the script. A joke. I didn't write it. Calm down. Nothing but love for @pewdiepie
— BITCHIMBELLATHORNE (@bellathorne) August 17, 2015
Tell us HollywoodLifers — Do you think fans were too hard on Bella? Sound off below!
— Alyssa Montemurro