My Father’s Shadow filmmakers Wale Davies and Akinola Davies Jr. won the BAFTA Film Award for outstanding British debut on Sunday, but the BBC cut a section of their acceptance speech.
Davies Jr.’s closed his winner’s remarks by dedicating the Outstanding Debut for a British Writer, Director or Producer award to “all those whose parents migrated to obtain a better life for their children.”
He continued: “To the economic migrant. The conflict migrant. Those under occupation, dictatorship, persecution, and those experiencing genocide. You matter. Your stories matter more than ever. Your dreams are an act of resistance to those watching at home.
“Archive your loved ones. Archive your stories yesterday, today, and forever. For Nigeria, for London, the Congo, Sudan, free Palestine.”
This part of Davies Jr.’s speech was removed from the BBC broadcast. Instead, the edit featured Davies Jr. thanking his family and his brother, Wale, for “nurturing this spark.”
A BBC spokesperson said: ”The live event is three hours and it has to be reduced to two hours for its on-air slot. The same happened to other speeches made during the night and all edits were made to ensure the programme was delivered to time. All winners’ speeches will be available to watch via Bafta’s YouTube channel.”
Deadline revealed last week that the BBC had made preparations for politically-charged speeches, with the UK broadcaster keen to avoid last year’s national scandal when it streamed Glastonbury Festival act Bob Vylan chanting “death to the IDF.”