The women of “The View” are adding their voices to those criticizing BAFTA and the BBC for not editing out an audible slur thrown at “Sinners” stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo on Sunday night. According to the ABC hosts, an immediate apology and cutting the moment from the broadcast “should’ve been a knee-jerk reaction.”
During the awards ceremony, as Jordan and Lindo took the stage to present an award together, “I Swear” subject John Davidson, who has Tourette’s, called out the N-word at the men involuntarily. Davidson has since said he is “mortified” by what happened, especially as it made the final broadcast of the show. Discussing the matter on Tuesday, the hosts of “The View” wondered how and why that happened.
“Now, it seems to me, I know that they had time to take out other things that this gentleman was saying,” moderator Whoopi Goldberg said. “So I know that they had time, I don’t know how you could miss him saying it, I mean, he’s in the audience. And this is what happens sometimes with people with Tourette’s, but, for Delroy and Michael B., the BAFTAs should have immediately grabbed them and said ‘We are so sorry. This not something that we anticipated.’”
Host Sunny Hostin was equally horrified that the slur made it to air, especially considering the team in charge of the broadcast “found time” to edit director Akinola Davies Jr.’s speech which included a call to “Free Palestine.”
“That was completely edited by the BBC before it was aired, but the racial slur was not. I take offense to that because, as a person who — and I’m sure you have as well, Whoopi — been on the receiving end of a racial slur, it’s very hurtful,” Hostin said. “It makes you feel terrible. And I’m sure that Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo had arange of emotions that — they were not apologized to.”
According to an individual with knowledge of the incident, Warner Bros. immediately intervened and requested that the incident be cut from the broadcast, but to no avail.
The lack of apology is where host Sara Haines got hung up as well, wondering why a statement didn’t come until Monday.
“It should’ve been a knee-jerk reaction. Because if I were at something like that, I wouldn’t even wait for the host,” Haines said.
BAFTA leadership has promised to hold a comprehensive review of the debacle, saying they take “full responsibility for putting our guests and members of the academy in a very difficult situation.”
