Here’s David Tennant’s Donald Trump joke that the BBC cut from BAFTA broadcast
BAFTA Film Awards host David Tennant had a joke about US President Donald Trump cut from Sunday night’s (February 16) television broadcast. At the live ceremony, he compared the politician to the character of Beetlejuice.
The edit came during a joke about the nominees at this year’s awards, starting with The Brutalist. “It’s the boldest architecture in film this year, apart from Donald Trump’s hair in The Apprentice” he quipped in the part of the joke that did make it to air.
What wasn’t included was the following: “Donald Trump, he says he hasn’t seen The Apprentice because it’s a 15 [the film’s rating]. It’s not on Nickelodeon. Donald Trump … I’m worried. I’ve said his name three times. It’s like Beetlejuice — I’ve summoned him”. Instead, the edit goes from the quip about Trump’s hair to Tennant saying “speaking of villains…”, leading into a piece about Nosferatu and Heretic.
It’s likely that the joke was cut for time rather than controversy, as the show normally has a third of its three hour running time trimmed for TV. In a statement to Variety, BAFTA broadcaster BBC said: “The nature of the show is that it’s broadcast with a short delay, and edits have to be made due to time constraints”.
The biggest night in the British film industry saw Conclave and The Brutalist win four awards each – the former taking Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Editing and Outstanding British Film and the latter winning Best Director, Actor for Adrien Brody, Score and Cinematography.
As well as Tennant’s joke, Zoe Saldaña’s acceptance speech after winning Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez was cut from the broadcast. The director of Kneecap, Rich Peppiatt, dedicated his BAFTA Film Award to “everyone out there” who is fighting to “have their homeland respected”.
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Victoria Luxford
NME
