BBC criticised for ‘disgusting’ interview with Andrew Scott on the BAFTAs red carpet
BBC News has been criticised for its “disgusting” red carpet interview with Andrew Scott at the BAFTAs.
Scott headed up the British Academy Film Awards 2024 on 18 February in support of his film All of Us Strangers, which received six nominations across the awards ceremony. Ultimately, the queer fantasy/romance was snubbed from the winners’ list on the night, while Scott was also missed out from the Best Actor category nominations.
However, when the actor — who said he “feels lucky” to have been born gay — was approached by BBC reporter Colin Paterson for an interview, Scott appeared to be left visibly uncomfortable. In the end, he had to walk away after being asked some inappropriate interview questions.
Paterson began the interview by asking if Scott was familiar with fellow Irish actor Barry Keoghan. “I know Barry, yeah,” Scott responded.
The interviewer then proceeded to ask what Scott’s reaction was to the end scene in Keoghan’s BAFTA-nominated movie Saltburn, which sees the actor dancing around the manor house naked to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor.
“Okay, well, listen I won’t spoil it for anybody but it was great,” said Scott, appearing to shake his head in disbelief at the question.
“Spoil away,” the interview urged. “No, I won’t spoil it for anybody,” Scott responded.
Paterson continued to press the actor for more of Scott’s thoughts on the scene, now asking him about whether the movie — which he didn’t even feature in — showed Keoghan wearing a prosthetic penis.
“There is a lot of talk about prosthetics, how well do you know them?,” he asked. To this, Scott simply walked away from the interview.
“Too much?,” the reporter finally asked.
Fellow reporter Alex Gilston at Film Focus Online shared the interview clip on X, asking why the interviewer focused on another actor’s genitals and never asked about his “multiple-nominated film”.
“This is frankly disgusting. Andrew Scott is there to support his multiple nominated film and THIS is what you ask? Then when he looks visibly uncomfortable the guy carried on. Truly horrid. #BAFTAs,” Gilston wrote.
“Weird energy by the interviewer,” said another social media user in the comments section. “Firstly Andrew Scott’s performance is truly astonishing and they should have been talking about this.”
Someone else wrote: “Agree. Absolutely disgusting. Again a new low for the BBC. Why can’t they employ people who know about film and can ask decent questions, treating these people with respect?”
Another commenter noted that if these questions were directed at a woman, there would be “absolute outrage”.
PinkNews has contacted a representative of BBC News for a comment on the matter.
