Wunmi Mosaku: ‘It’s been very difficult’ since incident at Bafta film awards
By Carla Feric, Press Association Entertainment Reporter
Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku has said “it’s been very difficult” following the events around the Bafta film awards last month, when the BBC failed to censor a racial slur during its broadcast of the ceremony.
Mosaku, who was named best supporting actress for her role in the film at the Baftas last month, said the incident cast a “shadow” over her win.
Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson could be heard shouting as her fellow Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects at the event at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
In an interview with Glamour magazine, the 39-year-old said: “Obviously, the Bafta win, there’s been a shadow.
“It’s been very difficult since the BBC decided to air what it aired.”
The British-Nigerian actress said that after the incident, the cast “just held each other”, adding: “I was (up for) the next award, so I came off the stage and I saw them, and I hugged them.”
Mosaku continued: “Everyone who was impacted deserved the grace to have it taken out (of the broadcast) – the care to have it taken out.
“We found out later that night that it was online. We’d been told that it was a family-friendly show at 7pm and that there was a two-hour delay. So how could it possibly have been left in?”
The BBC’s outgoing director-general Tim Davie has previously said that the corporation “profoundly regrets” the events around the Bafta film awards after the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee wrote to him “seeking an explanation” for how a racial slur ended up in the broadcast.
The corporation also announced that its Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) will complete a “fast-tracked investigation” after reviewing the Bafta coverage, and called the broadcast of the slur a “serious mistake”.
The following week, Mosaku, Lindo and Jordan were among the stars who attended the NAACP Image Awards in California, which celebrates outstanding achievements and performances of black and minority ethnic people in the arts.
Mosaku called the ceremony “healing”, and told the magazine it was a “really beautiful way to feel the love again, and remember the community that we’re celebrating – and who has been celebrating us”.
The actress, who is heavily pregnant, also spoke to the publication about how having her first child gave her “a different drive”.
She said: “I was driven before I had my daughter but it gives me a new clarity.
“Now it’s not just a job – it’s time away from her. I’m very cautious about who I choose to spend my time with.”
Mosaku also spoke about how her attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis has caused her to “really struggle” with being calm.
She said: “I now consider my ADHD in everything, so home life takes priority over socialising or texting on a group thread – I’m not trying to read all these messages.”
