BBC News has issued a response to complaints about a line of questioning on the BAFTA Awards red carpet that many people felt bordered on homophobic. And the response is… underwhelming.
Last Sunday, correspondent Colin Paterson made the baffling choice to ask Andrew Scott about Barry Keoghan’s naked dance scene in Saltburn ahead of the 2024 BAFTAs. Despite Scott looking uncomfortable, Paterson pressed on, seemingly trying to get the actor to say whether he thought Keoghan was wearing a prosthetic for that scene (the actor has previously insinuated that he was not).
These questions were particularly odd considering that Scott isn’t an actor in Saltburn and was attending the awards show in support of his own nominated film, All of Us Strangers. But, you know… he is gay, so surely he must have an opinion on another actor’s junk…? Some weird logic, along those lines, must’ve crossed the mind of this correspondent for BBC News.
In response, the backlash on social media was swift and direct, with many complaining directly to the BBC.
The network addressed the complaints on its official website this week, acknowledging that people felt the question was “inappropriate and homophobic.” But things kind of devolved from there, so let’s take a look.
“Our reporter began by asking Andrew Scott about the film he’d appeared in — All of Us Strangers — which was nominated for six BAFTAs,” the statement reads. Okay, so the reporter did his job and asked Scott about the reason he was at the ceremony. Have a cookie.
“He then moved on to ask about the popularity of Irish actors where Barry Keoghan, star of Saltburn, was mentioned,” the statement continues. “Saltburn is a film which has had cultural impact, with Barry Keoghan’s scene at the end gaining a lot of attention in particular.”
Well, lots of movies have had a cultural impact! Even recently! But Scott wasn’t fielding questions about Oppenheimer — part of the biggest phenomenon of 2023 and also starring an Irish actor, if those are the relevant qualifiers for interviews. Oh, but Cillian Murphy’s penis wasn’t out, so maybe that’s why Scott wasn’t asked about that one?
BBC News also wrote that “Saltburn writer and director, Emerald Fennell, and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, whose song ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ was used in the sequence, were also asked about the scene.”
Believe it or not, it actually makes sense to ask the woman who directed the scene and the woman whose 2001 song was revived because of it about the scene… so this doesn’t really seem comparable, or even worth mentioning!
“Our question to Andrew Scott was meant to be a light hearted reflection of the discussion around the scene and was not intended to cause offense,” the BBC added. “We do, however, accept that the specific question asked to Andrew Scott was misjudged. After speaking with Andrew on the carpet, our reporter acknowledged on air that his questioning may have gone too far and that he was sorry if this was the case.”
People make mistakes, and asking questions in an attempt to get attention-grabbing headlines is part of our unfortunately reality in a world where clicks are what keep things turning. However, this feels like a swing and a miss both on the carpet and in this response to people’s frustrations.
