The NAACP Image Awards extended public support to Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo days after the racial slur incident during last weekend’s Bafta Awards ceremony.
The controversy erupted when the BBC aired an outburst from Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson that included a racial slur while Jordan and Lindo were on stage at the British awards show.
At the Image Awards ceremony held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Saturday night, actress Regina Hall called for applause for the two actors. While presenting the first award of the evening, Hall asked the audience to “take a moment for the two kings who are in this audience”, gesturing towards Jordan and Lindo.
Host Deon Cole also referred to the episode during his opening monologue, which he framed as a prayer. After jokes about Teyana Taylor’s relationship status, 50 Cent’s pettiness and Nicki Minaj’s politics, Cole said, “Lord, if there are any white men out here in the audience with Tourette’s, I advise you to tell them they better read the room tonight”.
Actress Quinta Brunson, who won the NAACP Image Award for outstanding actress in a comedy series for Abbott Elementary, voiced her support for the Sinners team. “We see you. We are behind you,” Brunson said. “We support you, and we love you”.
Later in the ceremony, Lindo and Coogler received a standing ovation as they came on stage to present an award. “Before we start, I’d just like to officially say, we appreciate — I appreciate — we appreciate all the support and the love that we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend. It means a lot to us,” Lindo said.
“It is an honour to be here amongst our people this evening,” he added. “Among so many people who have shown us such incredible support. And it’s a classic case of something that could be very negative becoming very positive.”
“There’s something powerful about standing in this room — a room where we don’t have to explain ourselves, or our stories aren’t footnotes. They’re the main text,” Coogler said.
“A room where being fully seen is not rare, it is expected,” Lindo added. “And that matters, because so much of what we do on screen and behind the scenes is about fighting to be understood,” Coogler said.
