On Sunday (16 February), the biggest names in film gathered at the Royal Festival Hall within London’s Southbank Centre to celebrate this year’s BAFTAs ceremony.
One of which was Zoe Saldaña, who swore a fair few times during an emotional speech she gave, following her win for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Perez. The controversial Netflix musical-drama has taken home a number of awards despite being called out by many fans online and having a 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes‘ Popcornmeter.
In fact, Saldaña’s potty mouth reportedly led to her being escorted off stage. Take a look at the speech here:
In her speech, the 46-year-old actress said to the crowd: “I was told not to cry by my children, so I’ll try.
“This is so validating and a true honour, because the very few times that I went for a part with a British accent or dialect coach, I was like, ‘This is not going to happen to you’.
“Even though I have a lot of British friends, I find myself repeating all their phrases, and I know that I’m a pain in the a*se.”
Saldaña continued: “BAFTA thank you, this was a creative challenge of a lifetime. How do you begin to even approach a film that not just defies categorisation, and you start by taking the leap with Jacques Audiard. I want to thank my wonderful cast.”
She went on to say: “Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds and I hope I did something like this. voices need to be heard, just not my English accent.”
Zoe Saldaña won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Perez at the BAFTAs (Stuart Wilson/BAFTA / Contributor / Getty Images)
However, her following comments were cut from the BBC’s broadcast, but the Independent reports that Saldaña also said: “I’m dedicating all of these awards and the film Emilia Pérez to my nephew, Eli. He is the reason – they are the reason – I signed up to do this film in the first place.
“So as the proud aunt of a trans life, I will always stand with my community of trans people.”
She was quickly pulled off camera as she finished up: “Oh my god I’m getting a countdown. F**k f**k f**k!”
A BBC spokesperson has since told LADbible that the cuts were ‘due to time constraints’.
“As in previous years, due to the nature of the show it is broadcast with a short delay, and while we always aim to keep the core sentiment of acceptance speeches, edits have to be made due to time constraints,” the statement reads.
