It was one of the most standout moments of the 2020 BAFTA Awards: Margot Robbie delivering a hilarious speech on behalf of absent winner Brad Pitt, referencing Prince Harry’s then-recent exit from Britain. “[Pitt] says he’s going to name this [trophy] Harry, because he’s really excited about bringing it back to the States with him,” Robbie read out from a piece of paper, as the camera panned to Prince William and Kate, who were laughing along with the rest of the audience. She quickly added: “His words, not mine!” The moment went viral, with Harry even writing about it in his bombshell 2023 memoir, Spare .
Robbie accepted Pitt’s award on his behalf - and made a cheeky quip about Harry. Picture: James Veysey/BAFTA/Shutterstock The gag made Harry’s memoir. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP In a surprising twist, a fellow Aussie star has now revealed he was actually the person behind the controversial quip.
In an interview on Triple M’s Mick & MG in the Morning on Friday, comedian Jim Jefferies explained that he’d written “a lot of the jokes” in Pitt’s viral Best Supporting Actor acceptance speech, which had been read by his Once Upon A Time in Hollywood co-star at the last minute. “Here’s a fun one for you,” Jefferies told hosts Mick Molloy and Mark Geyer. “A joke that I wrote got mentioned in Prince Harry’s book.
“I can say this now, it’s been years since this happened. I wrote a lot of the jokes for Brad Pitt when he won the Oscar.