Wunmi Mosaku, the acclaimed star of Sinners, has revealed the profound difficulty she experienced following the BBC‘s failure to censor a racial slur during its broadcast of the Bafta film awards last month.
The incident, she stated, cast a “shadow” over her recent win for Best Supporting Actress.
Speaking to Glamour magazine, the 39-year-old British-Nigerian actress expressed her distress, saying: “Obviously, the Bafta win, there’s been a shadow. It’s been very difficult since the BBC decided to air what it aired.” The slur was reportedly shouted by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson as her Sinners co-stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented an award at the London event.
Mosaku recounted the immediate aftermath, noting how the cast “just held each other.” She added: “I was (up for) the next award, so I came off the stage and I saw them, and I hugged them.”
She criticised the broadcaster’s decision, arguing: “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 since stated the corporation “profoundly regrets” the events, following an inquiry from the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) Committee. The broadcaster has also initiated a “fast-tracked investigation” by its Executive Complaints Unit (ECU), acknowledging the broadcast of the slur as a “serious mistake.”
In the wake of the incident, Mosaku, Lindo, and Jordan attended the NAACP Image Awards in California, an event celebrating black and minority ethnic achievements in the arts. Mosaku described this as a “healing” experience, telling 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 heavily pregnant actress also shared insights into her personal life, explaining how impending motherhood has given her “a different drive.” She elaborated: “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.”
Furthermore, Mosaku discussed her attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis, which causes her to “really struggle” with being calm. She concluded: “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.”
