Sinners star Jayme Lawson is speaking out after a controversial moment at the BAFTA Awards, using the red carpet at the NAACP Image Awards to sharply criticize how the situation was handled.
While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Lawson addressed last weekend’s incident in which the N-word was shouted from the audience at actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo as they presented onstage. The remark reportedly came from guest John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome.
“I’ll first say a big shout-out to Mike and Delroy; let’s continue to honor them for how they handled that in real time,” Lawson said. “The grace and the dignity that they exercised and the whole home team, everybody that was out there really carried themselves well.”
‘Institutionally, We Still Don’t Understand What Inclusion Means’
Lawson went further, arguing the moment exposed deeper institutional failures.
“I think the events this weekend exposed a couple of things,” she said. “Institutionally, we still don’t understand what inclusion means. Just because you invite someone into a space, but you don’t provide the necessary resources to keep them and everyone else in that room safe by them being there, that’s not inclusivity. That’s exploitation.”
Referring to Davidson’s condition and the fallout, Lawson added:
“That man’s disability got exploited that night, and it led to multiple offenses. That’s the BAFTA’s fault. And then the BBC to air what they aired is careless — and not like some haphazard accident — a real lack of care was exercised for those two Black men.”
She also criticized the broadcaster directly, saying:
“We know the BBC knows how to take care of what they care about because they censored a bunch of other words. They censored Akinola Davies Jr.’s speech, the director of My Father’s Shadow, which is an amazing film, by the way. So you censored one Black man. You failed to protect two others, and our production designer, Hannah Beachler. You do not care for our dignity, our humanity. You want to celebrate our art, but you won’t protect us.”
Lawson concluded by contrasting the experience with what she described as safer creative spaces.
“That’s why we celebrate Sinners. That’s why we celebrate Ryan Coogler. That’s why we show up to the NAACP, because those are spaces where we felt safe, where we feel safe,” she said.
Support at the NAACP Image Awards
During the NAACP ceremony, actress Regina Hall asked the audience “to take a moment” to show support for Jordan and Lindo, prompting a loud round of applause.
Lindo later addressed the controversy publicly for the first time while presenting alongside Coogler.
“I’d just like to officially say, we appreciate all the support and love we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend. It means a lot to us,” Lindo said, describing the moment as a “classic case of something that could be very negative becoming very positive.”
The incident and its aftermath have sparked wider conversations about inclusion, live event safeguards and broadcast responsibility within major international award shows.
