Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku has said she was ‘kept awake at night’ after the BBC failed to censor a racial slur during the broadcast of the Bafta’s.
Last weekend the biggest night in British cinema was held in London – with films including Hamnet, Sinners and One Battle After Another walking away with major awards.
However, the event was somewhat overshadowed by the national broadcaster airing a racial slur that had been yelled out by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson whilst Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage presenting an award.
As the pair prepared to hand out the best visual effects award to Avatar: Fire and Ash, John was heard shouting the N-word, which prompted gasps across the audience in London’s Royal Festival Hall.
The BBC later aired footage where the slur could be heard, only removing the broadcast from iPlayer after significant backlash.
A week on Wunmi, who won best supporting actress for her role playing Annie in Ryan Cooglers’ horror film, said the incident ‘really tainted it for me’.
Speaking on the red carpet at the Actor Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, the British-Nigerian actress told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I was there and it was painful to have that celebration kind of really tainted for me.
‘I have no hard feelings towards John Davidson at all. He has a condition. I feel like BAFTA has a lot of lessons to learn.”
Wunmi went on to share that she found it ‘exploitative and performative to have someone there without the full protection of everyone, including him and anyone in that audience’, adding that there also would have been children present.
‘That’s one thing, and then the BBC is a whole other thing,’ she continued.
‘That’s the bit that really kind of kept me awake at night and brought tears to my eyes.
‘I was like, you really chose to keep that in? I can’t understand it, and I’m not sure if I can forgive it.’
Soon after the Baftas, Delroy told Vanity Fair that he and Michael ‘did what we had to do’ while presenting, but that he also wished ‘someone from Bafta spoke to us afterward.’
He then thanked fans for their support while speaking on stage at the NAACP Image, which celebrates outstanding achievements and performances of Black and minority ethnic people in the arts, on Saturday.
Speaking to the audience, he said: ‘We appreciate, I appreciate, all of the support and love we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend, it means a lot to us.
‘It is an honour to be here amongst our people this evening, amongst so many people who have shown us such incredible support.
‘And it’s a classic case of something that could’ve been very negative becoming very positive. Thank you so much for the support.’
Michael is yet to comment publicly on the incident.
The day after the awards, John issued an apology saying he was ‘deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning.’
In an interview with Variety, he also explained that he had an ‘expectation’ the BBC would blur out his comments, also questioning why he’d been sat close by a microphone too.
The day after the awards, Bafta issued an ‘unreserved apology’ for the ‘very offensive language that carries incomparable trauma and pain for so many’.
‘We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all. We will learn from this and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy,’ it said.
Meanwhile the BBC has also apologised, while its Executive Complaints Unit will now complete a ‘fast-tracked investigation’ into the incident.
Speaking to Metro at the Baftas Wunmi – who has previously starred in Moses Jones, Vera, Luther, Lovecraft Country and Loki – described the experience of working on a Black-led vampire film and what its global mainstream breakthrough has meant.
‘It always feels good when you walk into a room and you’re not the only one. It always feels good when you feel like your story, your experience, is being represented in such a way with integrity and creativity,’ she explained.
For her role in Sinners, she’s also been nominated for an Academy Award, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and an Actor Award.
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