Executives at British Academy Film Awards are fearing that Hollywood stars will use their acceptance speeches at to promote their political views.
Several celebrities, including Meryl Streep and Dev Patel, have voiced their views on US President Donald Trump both onstage and on the red carpet recently.
According to The Sun, the producers of the ceremony, organised by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), believe an endless string of speeches regarding the presidential election would be a disaster — resulting in the BBC broadcast potentially being edited if more than the odd reference is made, reports dailymail.co.uk.
BAFTA heads are now reportedly afraid that this year’s ceremony, which will be held on February 12, will be full of celebrities vocalising their political standpoint — thus detracting from the films being recognised.
“Having 15 back-to-back Trump speeches would be a disaster and would take complete attention away from the films,” said a source.
According to a report by dailymail.co.uk, the BAFTA heads have no intentions to acknowledge their fears to the stars.
The source added: “Nobody wants to tell the stars what they should or shouldn’t say and bosses expect the odd reference. But the last thing they want is a string of political rants, particularly with Trump’s Britain visit and his Muslim ban in full flow.”
The source went on to mention that if any one went beyond a brief comment and begin to discuss racism, their speech may be edited.
An official BAFTA spokesman said of the matter: “We respectfully ask all winners to keep their acceptance speech short.”
The anti-Trump movement has been at its peak this week in reaction to the immigration ban. Trump signed an order to suspend entry of refugees to the US for 120 days and imposed an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria. A 90-day ban was also placed on citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
