Siobhán McSweeney won a BAFTA last night (Sunday, May 14) – but her acceptance speech was cut in the BBC broadcast.
However, the Derry Girls star’s full, uncut speech was posted on Twitter – and fans were absolutely loving it!
Siobhán McSweeney wins BAFTA
Last night saw the BAFTA ceremony take place at the Royal Festival Hall in London.
The star-studded evening saw Irish star Siobhán win a BAFTA for Female Performance in a Comedy Programme. She won it for her role as Sister George Michael in Derry Girls.
Siobhán gave a lengthy speech – however, only a part of it was shown in the final programme. Following her anecdote about her mother, Siobhán then went on to thank her family and friends, as well as the cast and crew of Derry Girls.
It was after this that her speech got political – leading to the BBC cutting part it.
BBC cut Siobhán McSweeney BAFTA speech
After thanking everyone, Siobhán then thanked the people of Derry. “To the people of Derry – thank you for taking me into your hearts and your living rooms,” she said. The BBC broadcast then cut to Siobhàn saying “thank you” as her speech ended.
However, in the unedited version, Siobhán continues, saying: “I am, daily, impressed with how you encompassed 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’,” she then added to cheers and applause.
Fans react to Siobhán’s speech
Siobhan’s unedited speech was uploaded to Twitter – and viewers were loving it. However, many were annoyed with the BBC for cutting it.
“Oh dear, BBC. It is now going to get shown a gazillion times more than if you had not cut it. Biased and not very clever eh,” one viewer tweeted.
“Good god this is brilliant,” another viewer said of Siobhán’s speech. “It’s wrong that the BBC censored the last bit of Siobhán McSweeney’s acceptance speech, even if they did warn her not to be political. Did the BBC ask that of all nominees if they won though?” a third said.
“Siobhán McSweeney – wow what a speech,” another wrote. If Siobhan McSweeney hadn’t deserved a #BAFTA for her role in #DerryGirls (she did!) – then she definitely deserved one for her appearance and speech at #BAFTATVAwards – she was fab!” a fifth gushed.
“What on earth was wrong with showing what she actually said ffs?” another fumed. “This is actually shocking,” another said.
However, some viewers seemed to have a reason behind the BBC cutting Siobhan’s speech.
“I mean – they asked people to be quick, which the full speech was not – and they asked them not to be political… which this was. This doesn’t surprise me at all? They edited nearly every person’s speeches way, way down,” one viewer said.
In a statement to ED!, the BBC said: “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.”
Read more: OPINION: Everything the BAFTAs got wrong in 2023
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