Sinners continued its winning streak at the 79th Annual BAFTAs, taking home three awards from the 2026 ceremony.
Nigerian-British actress Wunmi Mosaku won the Supporting Actress BAFTA for her role as hoodoo healer Annie in the film. Musaku, who is expecting her second child, thanked her family and mom and delivered a heartfelt message: “To my daughter, you are my greatest teacher, I am most proud that everything begins and ends with you.”
Ryan Coogler added another Original Screenplay win to his growing list of accolades, while the film took home another award for Best Score.
Unfortunately, the ceremony was marred by an incident involving Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo. As the pair took the stage to present Best Visual Effects, the n-word was audibly hurled at the stage by John Davidson, who was present in connection with the film I Swear, based on his life navigating Tourette’s Syndrome.
Host Alan Cumming later addressed the moment, thanking the audience for their understanding of Davidson’s remarks, which were attributed to Coprolalia, a Tourette’s condition that can cause involuntary vocalizations, including expletives and slurs. However, as viewers have pointed out, the on-camera apology was not specifically directed to Jordan or Lindo, or any of the other creatives present who also endured slurs during their presentations.
Despite the outburst, Jordan and Lindo handled the moment with dignity and grace. They could have walked off the stage in protest, but instead, Lindo took a beat, composed himself, and continued presenting while Jordan remained poised.
Lindo was the man of the hour later that evening, posing in several selfies with other admiring celebs, but the moment itself is forever captured on social media feeds across the globe. Sinners is rooted in the brutal realities of Jim Crow racism, where the n-word was a way to freely berate and belittle Black Americans. For that same slur to echo on a modern awards stage is not only damaging but forces us to once again hold our heads high despite others’ actions. Voluntary or not, Davidson’s words bear the impact of a racial slur being directed at a Black presenter, a painful reminder that’s ironically captured in the film they’ve been representing.
While this may be one of the rare times such a term has been so publicly heard during a major awards ceremony. it now takes its place in part of a longer record of Black creatives being diminished and disrespected in spaces meant to honor achievement: Hattie McDaniel being forced to accept her Oscar at a segregated table when she won Best Supporting Actress for Gone With the Wind in 1940; Sidney Poitier facing racism after his historic win as the first Black man to win Best Actor for Lilies of the Field (1963); the recent #OscarsSoWhite campaign and a lack of diversity at the Golden Globes, and other countless moments where celebration has been shadowed by systematic exclusion.
An awards stage should be a space where Black creatives can feel safe while being honored, rather than being forced to maintain composure under fire.