“I’m out!” Alan Cumming has made it crystal clear he won’t be returning to host the BAFTAs after a scandal that left jaws on the floor. The actor was front and center during the February ceremony when John Davidson, a guest with Tourette’s syndrome, involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award.
Davidson was there to support his film, I Swear, but the BBC dropped the ball big time. Despite knowing about his condition and a two-hour delay before airing, they let the slur slip through the cracks. Cumming didn’t hold back, calling the whole situation “bad, bad, bad leadership” that left him “p***** off.”
In an explosive interview with The Times, the 61-year-old actor unleashed his frustration: “It was just bad people not doing their jobs properly. They really let everyone down.” The audience was left in the dark about Davidson’s potential outbursts, only being told there would be “noise.” But come on—John had reportedly dropped the N-word at a party just a day prior!
“They were even thinking of shouting at me during dress rehearsal to see how I’d react,” Cumming revealed. After the incident, he issued an apology to viewers, but now he admits he had no clue what he was apologizing for since he didn’t hear the slur himself.
“You may have heard some strong offensive language tonight,” he told the crowd, trying to explain Davidson’s tics as involuntary. “It’s a disability; the person has no control over their language.” But he’s frustrated with how he handled the apology: “I watched myself back and thought, ‘What was I doing? I was too smiley!’”
Cumming speculated that neither Jordan nor Lindo heard the slur either, likely just thinking someone was shouting from the audience. When asked if he’d ever host again, he shot back: “Right before it started, I told my agent, ‘Remind me, I never want to do this again.’”
The BAFTA Film Awards may have wrapped up in February, but the BAFTA TV Awards are set to take place tonight. Will they learn from this debacle? Only time will tell.
