The BBC have released a statement addressing an edit made to Siobhan McSweeney’s acceptance speech at the BAFTA TV Awards on Sunday night.
The 43-year-old took home the award for Best Female Performance in a Comedy programme for her role as Sister Michael in Derry Girls, and delivered an epic acceptance speech.
At the start her speech, the actress joked: “As my mother laid dying in Cork, one of the very last things she said to me was, would I not consider retraining as a teacher… If she could see me now getting a BAFTA for playing a teacher. Joke’s on you.”
Siobhan went on to thank the people of her native Cork “who supported me despite the fact I’m not Cillian Murphy”, adding “it must be very difficult for you”.
The actress then ended her speech on a political note by saying: “To the people in Derry, thank you taking me into your hearts and your living rooms.”
“I am daily impressed with how you encompass the spirit of compromise and resilience despite the indignities, ignorance and stupidity of your so-called leaders (in) Dublin, Stormont and Westminster.”
“In the words of my beloved Sister Michael, ‘it’s time they started to wise up’.”
While Siobhan’s full speech appeared on the BAFTA YouTube channel, an edited version appeared in the broadcast for BBC One.
The BBC included most of her speech, but cut out her criticism of the government.
The edit was pointed out by viewers on social media, which prompted journalist Scott Bryan to reach out to the BBC for a comment.
In response, the broadcaster released the following statement: “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.”
BBC STATEMENT has been released (1/2):
“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.” https://t.co/9YWwNHHyEA
— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 15, 2023
