London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 08, 2025

Bafta Awards face backlash over all-white winners

Bafta Awards face backlash over all-white winners

The Bafta Awards have come under fire, after all the winners at its film ceremony on Sunday were white.

The prestigious British event had a diverse set of nominees, with people belonging to ethnic minorities taking almost 40% of acting shortlist slots.

But that did not translate into wins, with the 49 victors across all categories being white.

It comes three years after an outcry and subsequent reforms when all 20 acting nominees were white.

Cate Blanchett and Austin Butler won best lead actress and actor at the Baftas

Marcus Ryder, director of consultancy at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, said Sunday's results were "quite depressing", and showed there had been "no substantial change" over the past decade.

"Ten years ago, in 2013, Lenny Henry made headlines at the TV Baftas when he labelled it as 'All white on the night'," he said.

"And depressingly, despite a massive overhaul, on which I and many other industry people were consulted and which resulted in 120 changes to the Bafta award processes, 1,000 new members from under-represented groups etc, the end result is there is no substantial change."

The focus should not be on ceremonies like the Baftas, he said, which are "just the tip of the iceberg" of a wider film industry that "suffers from systemic racism".


Film and TV critic and Bafta short film jury member Ashanti Omkar said she felt "quite devastated" after watching the ceremony and seeing the group photo of winners.

"Alison Hammond was the only person of the global majority in it, and she was not a winner but working at the event like many others who added colour to the red carpet, performed music and presented awards," she said. "That felt regressive and like these were cosmetic steps forward as opposed to real systemic change."

Omkar said the winners all deserved awards, but that she worried about whether people were going "back to old voting practices" after progress in recent years.

"This is what I was feeling, and I honestly I was heartbroken," she told BBC News. "I felt quite devastated."


Writer and critic Leila Latif wrote in The Guardian that, on the night, there was a "creeping discomfort that the awards were benefiting from the work and presence of many people of colour without ever handing them a statuette".

"By the end of the night, when it slowly sank in that every single winner was white, you could practically feel the Bafta team's heads sink into their hands as they braced for yet another social media storm," she said.



Bafta declined to comment on the lack of diversity among its winners, but noted the reforms introduced in 2020. They included adding more voters with a focus on under-represented groups, and making voters see all longlisted films in the categories for which they vote.

The organisation's chairman Krishnendu Majumdar told the New York Times before the ceremony that he wants to "to level the playing field", but that recognition "has to be on merit".

Bafta chief executive Jane Millichip told the paper the process of reviewing the set-up would be ongoing and constant, and that the 2020 reforms were "not a perfect full stop".

In 2021 and 2022, half of the acting winners were not white.

Dr Clive Nwonka, who led a study into racial inequality in the UK film industry in 2021, said it would take five or six years to get a full sense of the impact of Bafta's changes.


This year, German-language World War One epic All Quiet On The Western Front was the big winner with seven awards, while Cate Blanchett and Austin Butler took the lead acting prizes.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
×