Zoe Saldana comments censored by BBC during teary acceptance speech after winning award at 2025 BAFTAs
Zoe Saldana swore repeatedly during an emotional speech gave following her win for Best Supporting Actress at this year’s BAFTA Film Awards in comments that were cut from the broadcast by the BBC.
She won the award for her role in Emilia Perez, a controversial Netflix film which has been cleaning up at various award shows this year despite being slammed by many fans.
Despite being nominated for 11 Oscars the film sits at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes fan score.
She said in her speech played on broadcast: “I was told not to cry by my children, so I’ll try.
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“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**e.
“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."
The following comments however, were cut from the BBC's broadcast when she finished, saying: “Oh my god I'm getting a countdown. F**k f**k f**k!"
The full speech has been uploaded to YouTube, which can be watched here.
A BBC spokesperson said: “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 thanks she gave to her cast, which was included in the broadcast, included her giving thanks to co-star Karla Sofía Gascón.
Gascón was absent from the awards show following the revelation of her numerous controversial comments.
She played the titular character in the film, but has been absent from much of their awards run.
The film's director said to Deadline: "I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to. She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing.
"Why is she harming herself? Why? I don’t understand it, and what I don’t understand about this too is why she’s harming people who were very close to her. I
"I’m thinking in this thing of how hurting others, of how she’s hurting the crew and all these people who worked so incredibly hard on this film.
"I’m thinking of myself, I’m thinking of Zoe and Selena. I just don’t understand why she’s continuing to harm us.”
Topics: Netflix, Oscars, Film, TV and Film, Celebrity
Michael Slavin