The 'SAS: Red Notice' actor, who was feted with an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award in April, has been accused of verbal abuse, bullying and sexual harassment.
- Jun 2, 2021
AceShowbiz - BAFTA has axed its special prizes at the upcoming 2021 TV awards in light of the Noel Clarke scandal.
The show will not honor any stars with a Fellowship or Special Award for the first time in half a century, after the event organizers came under fire for awarding the actor an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award in April, the Daily Mirror newspaper reports.
At the time, BAFTA bosses were aware that he was being investigated for sexual harassment.
The organization said in a statement, "We wanted to let you know that while we review the processes behind selecting the awards that are 'in the gift of the Academy' - the Special Awards and Fellowships - we have temporarily paused these kinds of awards and they will not feature in Sunday's ceremony."
The BAFTA TV Awards will take place on June 6, but the usual Fellowship Prize and Special Award categories will be omitted. Last year's Special Award was awarded to Idris Elba.
BAFTA previously defended its decision to hand Clarke the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema accolade.
Dame Pippa Harris, the deputy chair of BAFTA, insisted she stood by chair Krishnendu Majumdar and chief executive Amanda Berry, after Clarke was presented with the award despite BAFTA being informed about several allegations of verbal abuse, bullying and sexual harassment.
The allegations, published in the Guardian newspaper, hadn't been made public at the time, and Pippa insisted if BAFTA had "one fraction of the information" in the publication's report - which featured allegations of sexual misconduct made against him by 20 women - then Clarke wouldn't have been awarded the gong.
She added, "That is obvious, but we didn't have that information. The first time that we saw the actual allegations against him was when they were published by the Guardian newspaper and as soon as we saw the allegations, we suspended the award."
Clarke has vehemently denied the allegations of sexual misconduct and criminal wrongdoing.
