Michael B. Jordan And Delroy Lindo Get Emotional Standing Ovation At NAACP Image Awards After BAFTA Slur

Regina Hall Starts the Night with Love

The first moment of support came early. Actress Regina Hall, presenting the first award of the evening, stopped her presentation to address the audience. She asked everyone to “take a moment for the two kings who are in this audience.” She gestured directly toward Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, who were seated in the crowd.

“[I] just send you so much love for your class,” Hall said. The room immediately responded with a standing ovation, the first of several the duo would receive before the night ended .

Host Deon Cole Addresses the Elephant in the Room

Host Deon Cole did not shy away from the situation that had dominated entertainment headlines all week. During his opening monologue, he framed his comments as a prayer. After touching on other topics in the news, he delivered a pointed line directed at the BAFTA incident.

“Lord, if there are any white men out here in the audience with Tourette’s, I advise you to tell them they better read the room tonight,” Cole said . The comment drew a strong reaction from the crowd and acknowledged the awkwardness of the moment that had occurred across the Atlantic just days earlier.

Quinta Brunson Shows Solidarity

Quinta Brunson, who won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for Abbott Elementary, also took time during her moment in the spotlight to address Jordan and Lindo directly.

“We see you. We are behind you,” Brunson said from the stage. “We support you, and we love you” . Her words added to the growing wave of affection flowing toward the Sinners team throughout the evening.

Delroy Lindo Speaks from the Heart

The most powerful moment of the night came when Delroy Lindo took the stage with director Ryan Coogler to present an award. As soon as the pair walked out, the audience jumped to their feet again, giving them another emotional standing ovation that lasted several seconds.

Once the crowd settled, Lindo spoke directly about the previous weekend’s events. “Before we start, I’d just like to officially say, we appreciate — I appreciate — we appreciate all the support and the love that we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend,” Lindo said. “It means a lot to us” .

He continued by expressing what it meant to be in that specific room. “It is an honor to be here amongst our people this evening,” he said. “Among so many people who have shown us such incredible support. And it’s a classic case of something that could be very negative becoming very positive” .

Ryan Coogler Reflects on Being Seen

Director Ryan Coogler then shared his own thoughts about the significance of the NAACP Image Awards, especially after the events at BAFTA. He spoke about the power of being in a space designed to celebrate Black stories without explanation.

“There’s something powerful about standing in this room — a room where we don’t have to explain ourselves, or our stories aren’t footnotes,” Coogler said. “They’re the main text” .

Lindo added to Coogler’s thought, saying, “A room where being fully seen is not rare, it is expected” .

Coogler continued, explaining why such spaces matter. “And that matters, because so much of what we do on screen and behind the scenes is about fighting to be understood,” he said. Lindo finished the thought: “To be layered. Complex. To be human” .

The director closed by acknowledging the importance of community. “Nights like this remind us that when we tell our stories truthfully, we show up as we are. We create space for each other. Space to grow. Space to lead. Space to shine” .

Michael B. Jordan Wins Big and Pays Tribute

Later in the evening, Michael B. Jordan took the stage to accept the award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. He also won the night’s biggest individual honor, Entertainer of the Year. His acceptance speech was personal and heartfelt.

“Man, I love being Black,” Jordan declared as he raised his trophy, drawing huge cheers from the audience .

He then shared his personal connection to the NAACP Image Awards, revealing that they had played a major role in his life since he was a teenager. “Y’all really don’t understand how much this means to me, being here,” Jordan said. “I used to come here when I was a kid, when I was about 15 years old, sneaking in through the back as best I could” .

He explained why the awards ceremony always felt different to him. “This is a place where I always felt encouraged, always felt like I was being celebrated and nourished,” he said. “You told me it was OK to keep going because I felt seen here, I felt comfortable, I felt the love. That’s why I love being here, and I love you guys so much” .

Jordan then dedicated his award to the late Chadwick Boseman, his friend and former co-star. “I was thinking about lead actor, and I was thinking about what lead actor meant to me, and, honestly, I’ve got to dedicate this award to Chadwick Boseman” .

Sinners Cleans Up at the Awards

The night was a massive victory for the entire Sinners team. The film led all nominees with 18 nods and walked away with 13 wins .

Key wins for the film included:

Outstanding Motion Picture
Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture – Michael B. Jordan
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture – Delroy Lindo
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – Wunmi Mosaku
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance in a Motion Picture – Miles Caton
Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture – Ryan Coogler
Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture – Ryan Coogler
Outstanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture
Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation Album – Sinners (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Outstanding Original Score for TV/Film – Sinners (Original Motion Picture Score)

The film’s success at the Image Awards solidifies its position as a major force this awards season .

What Happened at the BAFTAS

The overwhelming support at the NAACP Image Awards came after a difficult moment for Jordan and Lindo at the BAFTA Film Awards on February 22. The two actors were on stage at the Royal Festival Hall in London presenting the award for Best Visual Effects.

During their presentation, a guest in the audience named John Davidson, who has Tourette’s syndrome and was the subject of the BAFTA-nominated film I Swear, experienced an involuntary tic and shouted a racial slur, the N-word . The outburst was picked up by microphones and broadcast by the BBC.

Despite the broadcast being on a time delay to fit the two-hour slot, the slur was not edited out. This led to immediate backlash and questions about why the network cut other moments, such as a political statement in another winner’s speech, but allowed the slur to air .

The BBC and BAFTA both issued apologies. A BBC spokesperson said, “We apologise that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iPlayer” .

Davidson also expressed remorse, telling Variety that he “felt a wave of shame” when he realized the crowd could hear his tics. He questioned why he was seated so close to a microphone .

Lindo’s Quiet Frustration with BAFTA

While Davidson’s condition explained the outburst, Delroy Lindo later shared his disappointment with how BAFTA handled the situation afterward. Speaking to Vanity Fair at an afterparty, Lindo said he and Jordan “did what we had to do” while on stage, maintaining their composure during the live broadcast .

However, he added that he wished “someone from BAFTA spoke to us afterward” . This comment suggested that while the public apology was made, a personal, private check-in with the two actors who were directly affected did not happen, at least not immediately.

A Sinners Crew Member Also Affected

The incident was not isolated to just the stage moment. Hannah Beachler, the production designer for Sinners, took to social media to reveal that she was also targeted that night.

Beachler wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that she struggled to find words for what happened at the BAFTAs. She stated that the situation was “almost impossible,” but revealed that the slur was directed at her personally “on the way to dinner after the show and a third time at a Black woman” .

She expressed frustration with what she called the “throw away apology of ‘if you were offended’ at the end of the show.” Beachler wrote, “Of course we were offended… but our frequency, our spiritual vibration is tuned to a higher level than what happened. I am not steal , this did not bounce off of me, but I exist above it” .

A Night of Healing and Triumph

The contrast between the BAFTA incident and the NAACP Image Awards could not have been starker. At BAFTA, Jordan and Lindo stood on a stage while an uncontrollable outburst reminded them—and millions watching—of the ugliness that still exists. At the Image Awards, they stood on stage surrounded by their peers, celebrated, loved, and protected.

Regina Hall’s early shout-out, Deon Cole’s sharp joke, and Quinta Brunson’s sincere words of support all built toward the moment when Delroy Lindo and Ryan Coogler could finally speak their truth. Lindo’s words—“something that could be very negative becoming very positive”—captured the spirit of the entire evening.

The NAACP Image Awards provided a space for healing. It allowed the industry to wrap its arms around two of its most talented stars and say, “We’ve got you.” And for Michael B. Jordan, winning Entertainer of the Year in that room, after that week, must have felt like coming home.

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