Wunmi Mosaku is "not sure she can forgive" BBC executives for airing a racial slur during their broadcast of the BAFTA Film Awards.
Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson, who is the subject of the drama I Swear, involuntarily shouted the N-word when Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took to the stage to present an award in London's Royal Festival Hall earlier this month.
Their co-star Mosaku, who won the Best Supporting Actress BAFTA, has admitted that the situation "tainted" what should have been a celebratory night for her.
"I was there and it was painful to have that celebration, kind of, really tainted for me," Mosaku told Entertainment Tonight at the Actor Awards on Sunday.
The British-Nigerian actress pointed out that she has "no hard feelings towards John Davidson at all" and was most concerned by how the situation was handled by the BAFTA and BBC teams.
Echoing her co-star Jayme Lawson's recent comments, Mosaku said, "I feel like BAFTA has a lot of lessons to learn. It felt like, exploitative and performative to have someone there without the full protection of everybody, including him and anyone in that audience."
However, the Loki star admitted it was the BBC's decision to air the slur, despite the two-hour delay, that kept her up at night.
"That's the bit that kind of kept me awake at night and brought tears to my eyes. I was like, 'You really chose to keep that in.' I can't understand it, and I'm not sure I can forgive it," she added.
BAFTA and BBC executives have apologised for their handling of the situation, and the slur has since been removed from the broadcast. Davidson said in an interview last week that he reached out to directly apologise to Jordan, Lindo and Sinners production designer Hannah Beachler.
Lindo addressed the controversy while on stage with Sinners director Ryan Coogler at the NAACP Image Awards on Saturday.
"We appreciate - I appreciate - all of the support and love we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend, it means a lot to us," he shared. "And it's a classic case of something that could've been very negative becoming very positive. Thank you so much for the support."
