Alan Cumming fires fierce swipe at Baftas as actor replaced as host for TV Awards: 'Bad leadership!'

Actor Alan Cumming has doubled down and declared that he will never host the Baftas again, branding this year’s film awards as a “s**tshow”.

The 61-year-old presented the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall back in February, but has recently revealed he is refusing to engage with the organisation's leadership.

He told The Sunday Times that he had already decided against returning before the event even began, adding that it turned into an “international scandal”.

Mr Cumming said: “It was bad, bad, bad, bad leadership. Bad people who weren't doing their jobs properly, who really had not prepared and let people down."

The Spy Kids actors went on to reveal he had initially declined to speak to Bafta when the organisation attempted to apologise to him following the controversy.

The drama that unfolded came from Scottish Tourette's activist John Davidson, who attended the ceremony to mark the film I Swear, which depicts his life and campaigning work around the condition.

Whilst Sinners actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage, Mr Davidson involuntarily ticked and shouted racial and homophobic slurs.

After the incident, it had been reported that the actors were “disgusted” and “repulsed” by what had occurred.

Being broadcast two hours after the incident in the UK, the BBC still failed to edit out the incident and initially left the moment on iPlayer, sparking major criticism.

Both the BBC and Bafta had apologised for the mishap, with Mr Davidson later claiming that he was “deeply mortified” by the incident.

Mr Cumming explained that his earpiece prevented him from hearing what had occurred and said to The Times: “I haven't actually asked them, but I don't imagine that Delroy and Michael B Jordan heard the actual slur either.

“They were probably just, like, 'Well, there's someone shouting in the audience,'."

Despite not knowing what had happened, the host was still asked to read an apology from the teleprompter during the show, leaving the star to feel flustered and annoyed.

"I watched myself back. I was very smiley, I didn't do it with the gravitas and tone I would have used had I known," Mr Cumming said. "That p**sed me off."

The racial slurs weren’t the only incident that occurred during the awards, as he directed a homophobic slur at Mr Cumming, which was edited from the broadcast.

The Annie actor has accused organisers of failing to adequately prepare him or the audience for what might occur during the ceremony.

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"They just said, 'There'll be noise.' You could say they didn't know, but they clearly did, because apparently John had said the N-word at a party the day before."

The actor revealed that production staff had considered testing his reactions by shouting at him during the dress rehearsal, but ultimately chose not to do so.

Beyond the controversy itself, Mr Cumming expressed frustration with the overall production, citing botched travel arrangements and a lack of food during rehearsals.

"It's a tough gig," he said. "You're trying to be funny for a bunch of people who are used to very generic, middle-of-the-road things."

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