sinners Actress Jayme Lawson has spoken out about the incident at the BAFTA Awards in which Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were yelled at with a racial slur while performing on stage.
He called it a lack of genuine inclusion and direct targeting of both BAFTA and the bbc.
talking to The Hollywood Reporter On the red carpet at the NAACP Image Awards, Lawson began by praising the two men at the center of the incident.
“First I’ll give a shout out to Mike and Delroy; let’s continue to honor them for how they handled that in real time,” he said.
“The grace and dignity that they exercised and the whole home team, everyone that was there, they really carried themselves well.”
The insult was shouted by guest John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome.
But Lawson made it clear that he did not blame Davidson himself.
“That man’s disability was exploited that night and led to multiple crimes,” he said. “That’s BAFTA’s fault.”
Their argument was that inviting someone into a space without implementing proper safeguards is not true inclusion.
“Just because you invite someone into a space, but don’t give them the resources to keep them and everyone else in that room safe by being there, that’s not inclusion. That’s exploitation.”
He reserved his harshest words for bbcThe decision to air the moment.
“He bbc “To transmit what they transmitted is carelessness, and not as a chance accident, a real lack of care was exercised with those two black men.”
Lawson pointed out what he described as a telling contrast: the bbc had censored other content during the same broadcast, including, she said, a speech by Akinola Davies Jr., director of my father’s shadow.
“You censored a black man. You failed to protect two others, and our production designer, Hannah [Beachler]. You don’t care about our dignity, our humanity. You want to celebrate our art, but you won’t protect it. [us]”.
He ended with a note about the importance of spaces where black artists feel truly safe and valued.
“That’s why we celebrate sinners. That’s why we celebrate Ryan. [Coogler]. “That’s why we ran for the NAACP because those are spaces where we feel safe, where we feel safe.”
At the NAACP Image Awards, the evening included its own moment of solidarity.
Regina Hall asked the audience to pause and show gratitude to Jordan and Lindo, who received loud applause.
Lindo also addressed the incident publicly for the first time when he took the stage to present alongside Ryan Coogler, saying the support shown to him and Jordan had meant a lot.
He described the episode as “a classic case of something that could be very negative becoming very positive.”
