Akinola Davies Jr’s “Free Palestine” remark cut from BBC coverage of the Baftas 2026
During the BBC‘s TV coverage of the 79th BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, Akinola Davies Jr’s remark of “Free Palestine” was cut from the broadcast of his speech.
The My Father’s Shadow director, who won the ‘Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer’ alongside his brother Wale Davies, ended his emotive acceptance speech by shouting, “Free Palestine”.
This was reported in the BBC‘s own online coverage of the event, but notably during the television broadcast of the annual ceremony – that runs roughly 30 minutes behind the actual event – the political remark was seamlessly cut.
Akinola Davies Jr thanked his family and his brother Wale Davies for “nurturing the spark and writing this story”. He continued, “To all those whose parents migrated” – experiencing persecution and genocide – “your stories matter more than ever”. Ending with “free Palestine” to applause.
The bulk of the speeches have been entirely apolitical, with Akinola’s support for Palestine representing a fleeting activistic moment, but it was not given airtime on the coverage on BBC One.
Last summer, censorship and the BBC became a hot topic during Glastonbury Festival after controversy was caused by the British punk band Bob Vylan when they began a chant of “Death, death to the IDF“.
A BBC insider told Deadline that this became a hot topic internally during the run-up to the BAFTAs, claiming, “They can’t have another Glastonbury – that’s the thing they keep talking about.”
However, the BBC is yet to offer an explanation for why Akinola’s remark was cut or explain the discrepancy between their own online coverage of his speech and what was broadcast on TV.
Once again, Royal Festival Hall is playing host to the prestigious occasion, with Scottish actor Alan Cumming in charge of proceedings as host.
The big winners on the evening have included One Battle After Another, Frankenstein, Hamnet, and Sentimental Value.
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