Alan Cumming criticises ‘bad leadership’ at Bafta film awards after racial slur

Hollywood star Alan Cumming has criticised the “bad leadership” behind the Bafta film awards, and said he would not want to host the event again.

During this year’s award ceremony on February 22, Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson could be heard shouting a racial slur as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented a gong.

Davidson has since said he was “deeply mortified” by the incident, which stirred controversy after the BBC failed to censor the slur during the broadcast, which was on a two-hour time delay.

Scottish actor Cumming, who hosted the ceremony, spoke to The Sunday Times about the incident, which he described as an “international scandal”.

The 61-year-old said: “It was bad, bad, bad, bad leadership. Bad people who weren’t doing their jobs properly, who really had not prepared and let people down.”

Cumming, also known for hosting the US version of The Traitors, said he had not been warned about the possibility of Davidson having an offensive outburst as a result of his Tourette’s.

He said: “They just said, ‘There’ll be noise’. You could say they didn’t know, but they clearly did, because apparently John had said the n-word at a party the day before.

“They were thinking of shouting at me during the dress rehearsal to see what I’d do, but they didn’t.”

The Good Wife star reflected on the aftermath of the incident, and said: “Then, poor John gave this interview saying ‘I’m not a racist. I called Alan Cumming a paedophile too’.

“Oh great. He’s equal opportunities and my name and ‘paedophile’ were in the same sentences all over the world.”

The Perthshire-born star told the newspaper he did not know that Davidson had called him a “paedophile” during the ceremony as he could not hear, adding: “I had a thing in my ear and you can’t hear very specifically what’s happening.

“I haven’t actually asked them, but I don’t imagine that Delroy and Michael B Jordan heard the actual slur either. They were probably just, like, ‘Well, there’s someone shouting in the audience.'”

During the broadcast, Cumming read a message from the teleprompter apologising for the language viewers may have heard, but he told The Sunday Times that in the moment he did not know why he was apologising.

He said: “I watched myself back. I was very smiley, I didn’t do it with the gravitas and tone I would have used had I known. That pissed me off.”

The star also recounted receiving an apology from Bafta, which also asked to talk to him, and said: “I was, like, ‘What? No. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.'”

When asked if he would wish to return as host, Cumming called it a “tough gig” and said: “Right before it started, I said to my agent, ‘Remind me, I never want to do this again.’”

Cumming previously called the headline-making awards ceremony “trauma triggering” and a “shitshow” in a post on Instagram a week after it happened.

Also in the aftermath, Bafta issued an apology and said it took “full responsibility” for putting its guests in a “difficult situation”.

Bafta also apologised “unreservedly” to Jordan and Lindo, and “to all those impacted”, adding: “We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism.”

Bafta has been asked for comment.