The Bear star Ayo Edebiri thanks Ireland during speech at the Critics' Choice Awards

It comes following the long-running "Ayo Edebiri is Irish" joke online

The Bear actor Ayo Edebiri thanked Ireland during her speech at the Critics' Choice Awards last night as part of the ongoing joke online about her being from Ireland.

The joke stems from an interview that the 28-year-old did on the red carpet in March of last year in which she joked about playing Jenny the Donkey in Banshees of Inisherin.

In a nutshell

The actress has kept up the "Ayo Edebiri is Irish" meme after she thanked the Emerald Isle during her speech at the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday night as she won for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal as Sydney in The Bear.

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The joke stems from a red carpet interview she did with Letterboxd at SXSW in March 2023 in which she joked about playing Jenny the Donkey in the Banshees of Inisherin, even taking on an "Oirish" accent during the interview.

Following the interview being posted online, it gained traction and became a viral meme with Edebiri even acknowledging it on her Instagram story, when she posted a picture of the Film In Dublin Twitter page posting a congratulatory post to "Ireland's own Ayo Edebiri" for her BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Edebiri posted a screenshot of the tweet and wrote the caption "Go díreach" which means "Exactly."

She has given the joke even more legs now following her win last night as she mentioned Ireland during her acceptance speech.

The 28-year-old said: "To everyone in Boston, Barbados, Nigeria... Ireland, in many ways... thank you so much, I love you."

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