Class Act! Delroy Lindo Reveals First Thoughts After BAFTAs Slur & ‘Claiming The Joy’ Of Oscars Night ‘No Matter What’

Sinners star Delroy Lindo charmingly shut down discussion of the N-word incident again as he focuses on “the joy” of Oscar night, but he did reveal what went through his mind on the BAFTA stage.

No matter what happens on Oscar night, Delroy Lindo isn’t wrapping up his victory lap anytime soon. With an impressive 50-year career of award-worthy performances, like Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Crooklyn, and Da 5 Bloods, it’s undeniably well-deserved.

Yet one of his most-discussed moments this awards season isn’t for his portrayal of Delta Slim or an acceptance speech. It’s the BAFTAs, where Tourette’s Syndrome activist John Davidson shouted the N-word while Lindo and co-star Michael B. Jordan presented an award. Lindo laughingly insisted “no, we’re not” discussing the Feb. 22 incident again on NPR’s Fresh Air. In what may be the last time, he addressed the moment to share what he thought immediately after.

When host Tonya Mosley raised the topic, Lindo politely protested, “With all due respect, I’m actually not going to talk about this. I’m laughing because in the intro when you said, ‘Oh, yes, we’ll be talking about what happened with BAFTA,’ I chuckled because I said, ‘No, we’re not.’”

Eventually, the Unprisoned star elaborated that his professionalism took over in amid the shock. “I processed in the way that I process, in a nanosecond. Mike did similarly, and we went on and did our jobs,” Lindo said.

“You have to understand, we had jobs to do. We were the first presenters of the evening. And we had to read that teleprompter, and we both did exactly that. Now, a couple of people who know — my wife says that I adjusted my glasses, and she said she knew when I adjusted my glasses that something was happening internally. But there was a nanosecond when I’m thinking, ‘Wait, did I just hear what I thought I heard?’” he remembered.

Thanks to the outpouring of support at the 2026 NAACP Image Awards a week later, Lindo saw a positive outcome more than anything.

“The fact that I could stand there in a room predominantly of our people …  and feel safe, feel loved, feel supported. I just wanted to officially, formally say thank you to our people and to all of the people who have supported us as a result of that event, that incident,” he continued.

Read about Delroy Lindo’s Oscar optimism, post-award plans, and upcoming projects after the flip!

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