HOT 91.7 FM SINNERS: BBC Apologizes, Cast and Crew Comment on BAFTA Incident
Written by Ariel Newbold on February 23, 2026
The fallout continues after a racial slur was shouted during Sunday’s BAFTA Film Awards while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting Best Visual Effects to Avatar: Fire and Ash, with Sinners cast and crew weighing in, as the network that aired the award show apologizes.
The outburst came from Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson, whose life inspired the film I Swear, and was later included in the BBC’s delayed broadcast before being removed.
Speaking to Vanity Fair at a BAFTA after-party, Lindo said he and Jordan “did what we had to do” in the moment but added he wished “someone from BAFTA spoke to us afterwards.”
Sinners production designer Hannah Beachler also criticized host Alan Cumming’s on-stage apology, calling it a “throw-away apology” after he said he was sorry “if you were offended.” Beachler wrote that the slur was directed at her once after the ceremony and at another Black woman, adding, “Of course we were offended.”
During the ceremony, Cumming explained that Tourette’s tics are involuntary and not intentional. The BBC later apologized for failing to edit the language out of its broadcast.
