Sinners stars Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku have addressed the BAFTA racial slur incident that occurred at London’s Royal Festival Hall on 22 February.
With awards season in full swing, the two actors, who play Delta Slim and Annie in the hit Southern Gothic horror film, both appeared at two events over the weekend: the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday and the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday.
While there to celebrate Sinners, the two stars took the opportunity to share their thoughts on what happened at the BAFTAs, where Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson could be heard shouting, including a racial slur, as Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the first award of the evening.
Although the audience had been warned that John was in attendance and that strong language might be heard, the BBC failed to remove the slur from the delayed broadcast, which was later uploaded to iPlayer. The BBC and BAFTA have since apologised for the incident, while John revealed he was “deeply mortified” that his involuntary tics were causing distress.
What did Delroy Lindo say?
Appearing at the NAACP Image Awards in Pasadena, California, Delroy presented an award alongside Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler. The pair were met with loud applause as they took to the stage.
Before announcing the nominees, Delroy said: “Before we start, I’d just like to officially say, we appreciate – I appreciate – we appreciate all the support and the love that we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend. It means a lot to us.”
He continued: “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.”
Delroy also highlighted the importance of being in a room where “being fully seen is not rare, it is expected” and of continuing to champion stories that raise awareness of what it means to be layered, complex human beings.
© Getty Images for BETWhat did Wunmi Mosaku say?
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Wunmi also reflected on the previous week and a half’s events on the red carpet at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, formerly known as the SAG Awards.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Wunmi admitted that her win for Best Supporting Actress had been “tainted” by the handling of the incident. “I have no hard feelings towards John Davidson at all. He has a condition,” she said. “I feel like Bafta has a lot of lessons to learn.”
© AFP via Getty ImagesShe added that she believed it was “exploitative and performative” to have someone in the audience without the “full protection” in place. Wunmi continued that the BBC’s airing of the incident, which was not removed from iPlayer until the following day, was a “whole other thing”.
“That’s the bit that really kind of kept me awake at night and brought tears to my eyes,” she said. “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.”
Read the full article here
