Sinners star Delroy Lindo charmingly shut down discussion of the N-word incident again as he focuses on “the joy” of Oscar night, but he did reveal what went through his mind on the BAFTA stage.
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No matter what happens on Oscar night, Delroy Lindo isn’t wrapping up his victory lap anytime soon. With an impressive 50-year career of award-worthy performances, like Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Crooklyn, and Da 5 Bloods, it’s undeniably well-deserved.
Yet one of his most-discussed moments this awards season isn’t for his portrayal of Delta Slim or an acceptance speech. It’s the BAFTAs, where Tourette’s Syndrome activist John Davidson shouted the N-word while Lindo and co-star Michael B. Jordan presented an award. Lindo laughingly insisted “no, we’re not” discussing the Feb. 22 incident again on NPR’s Fresh Air. In what may be the last time, he addressed the moment to share what he thought immediately after.
When host Tonya Mosley raised the topic, Lindo politely protested, “With all due respect, I’m actually not going to talk about this. I’m laughing because in the intro when you said, ‘Oh, yes, we’ll be talking about what happened with BAFTA,’ I chuckled because I said, ‘No, we’re not.’”
Eventually, the Unprisoned star elaborated that his professionalism took over in amid the shock. “I processed in the way that I process, in a nanosecond. Mike did similarly, and we went on and did our jobs,” Lindo said.
“You have to understand, we had jobs to do. We were the first presenters of the evening. And we had to read that teleprompter, and we both did exactly that. Now, a couple of people who know — my wife says that I adjusted my glasses, and she said she knew when I adjusted my glasses that something was happening internally. But there was a nanosecond when I’m thinking, ‘Wait, did I just hear what I thought I heard?’” he remembered.
Thanks to the outpouring of support at the 2026 NAACP Image Awards a week later, Lindo saw a positive outcome more than anything.
“The fact that I could stand there in a room predominantly of our people … and feel safe, feel loved, feel supported. I just wanted to officially, formally say thank you to our people and to all of the people who have supported us as a result of that event, that incident,” he continued.
Read about Delroy Lindo’s Oscar optimism, post-award plans, and upcoming projects after the flip!
Delroy Lindo Looks Ahead To The Academy Awards In Spite Of Controversy & The Oscars “Curse” For Black Actors
Finally, the public’s attention is returning to the upcoming 2026 Academy Awards and the statue many believe is long overdue for Lindo. His performance in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods sparked Oscar buzz that never materialized. Win or lose, the 73-year-old resolved that he “will continue working.” He receives constant reminders that the work is what has already won where it really counts, in hearts and minds.
“Various people have mentioned … [that] my presence reminds them of an uncle or their grandfather, somebody that they knew from their families, and that is a huge compliment, but more importantly than being a compliment, it’s an affirmation for the work,” he said.
Much like Lindo remained unshaken through career disappointments, he also refuses to entertain the rumored career “curse” for Black Oscar winners. Mosley referenced stars like Halle Berry and Lou Gossett Jr., who lost momentum rather than reaching new heights after their wins.
“I will not view it as a curse, because I am claiming the victory in this process, no matter what happens. … In terms of this moment, I absolutely am claiming, as much as I can, the joy of this moment. I’m not saying I don’t have trepidation, I do. It’s the reason I was not listening to the broadcast this year when the nominations were announced. I did not want to set myself up. But I’m … attempting as much as I can to fortify myself and know in my heart that I will continue working as an actor. I absolutely will,” he doubled down.
Lindo may bless fans with more than a continued career in acting. In 2014, he earned a master’s degree from NYU for a thesis about the Windrush generation, which brought his mother from Jamaica to the U.K. He planned to use this research to write a screenplay about the movement and how it transformed England.
“Stories about Windrush are not part of the global cultural lexicon commensurate with its impact. The people of Windrush changed the definition of what it means to be British. There are all these Black and brown people, theretofore members of what used to be called the British Commonwealth. And they were invited by the British government to come to England, the United Kingdom, to help rebuild the United Kingdom in the aftermath of the destruction of World War II. My mom was part of that movement. They helped rebuild construction, construction industry, transportation industry, critically, the health industry, the NHS, the National Health Service. My mom is a nurse,” he said.
“The reason that I went into NYU was because my original intention was to write a screenplay about my mom. I wanted to write a screenplay about my mom because I looked around and I thought: Where are the feature films that have as protagonist a Caribbean female, a Black female, where are they? … I wanted to address that, I wanted to correct that, what I see as being an imbalance,” Lindo continued.
In addition to his upcoming role in Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, Lindo is writing a book unlike any other “celebrity memoir.” “I am examining history. I’m examining culture. I’m looking at certain passages of history through the lens of the Windrush experience,” Lindo said.
“It’s been healing, actually. I’m not denying that it has opened me up. I’ve been compelled to scrutinize myself. I’m using that word very advisedly, ‘scrutinized.’ It’s a scrutiny, it’s an examination of oneself. But in my case, because a very, very, very significant part of what I’m writing has to do with re-examining my relationship with my mom. And so my mom is a protagonist in my memoir. I’m told by my editor and by my publisher that one of the attractions to what I’m writing is that it is not a classic ‘celebrity memoir,’” the star promised.
Fans can cheer on Delroy Lindo and the rest of the Sinners nominees at the 2026 Academy Awards on Sunday, March 15.
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