Alison Hammond was the only Black person in the Baftas winners’ picture

40 percent of the nominees were people of colour, but not one walked away with an award on the night

Alison Hammond was the only Black person in the Bafta winners’ picture after all 49 victors on the night were white.

The British film awards, which were this year co-presented by Hammond and Richard E. Grant, have been criticised in the past for a lack of diversity, prompting #BaftasSoWhite to trend in previous years.

In response to this criticism, the academy has implemented a number of changes, including adding 1,000 new members from under-represented groups.

As a result, this year’s awards had a diverse set of nominees, with people belonging to ethnic minorities taking almost 40 percent of acting shortlist slots, the second highest proportion in the awards’ history.

But by the end of the night, all 49 victors across all categories were white.

The staggering lack of diversity amongst the winners was starkly demonstrated by the Baftas winners’ picture, with Hammond being the only Black person in the photo.

2 steps forward, 10 steps back #EEBAFTAs pic.twitter.com/phREPzq5ZY

— ada enechi (@adaenechi) February 19, 2023

The return of #BaftasSoWhite three years after diversity outcry

Captioned in the Guardian:
The (49) all-white winners of this year’s Bafta film awards pose with the presenters [who are not] pic.twitter.com/3c0jJUjMB5

— "Dunavan" (@dollardoughnut) February 21, 2023

Film and TV critic and Bafta short film jury member Ashanti Omkar told the BBC the ceremony had left her feeling “quite devastated.”

She said: “Alison Hammond was the only person of the global majority in it, and she was not a winner but working at the event like many others who added colour to the red carpet, performed music and presented awards.

“That felt regressive and like these were cosmetic steps forward as opposed to real systemic change.”

She worried that academy members were going “back to old voting practices” after the progress of recent years.