Parts of host David Tennant’s jokes on US President Donald Trump during his BAFTA Awards monologue have now been edited. A sizeable chunk of his monologue was removed from the broadcast. The BAFTA Awards event was pre-recorded two hours before airing. 

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BAFTA Awards took place at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday (Feb 16). Due to time constraints, the final broadcast was edited down from three hours to two, resulting in the removal of several segments. What caught everyone’s attention was that Tennant’s jokes on Trump didn’t make it to the final broadcast.

Many jokes on Trump were cut from BBC

One of the omitted jokes compared Trump to the supernatural character Beetlejuice. Tennant joked, “Donald Trump—I’m worried. I’ve said his name three times. It’s like Beetlejuice—I’ve summoned him.”

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Another comment that didn’t make it to the broadcast was Tennant referencing the film, The Apprentice, in which Sebastian Stan stars as a young Trump. Tennant joked that the former president had probably never watched the film because “it’s a 15 [referring to the UK film rating], and it’s not on Nickelodeon.”

Some other jokes that didn’t it to air included his remarks about Conclave, including playful comparisons between the film’s setting and Pop Idol. Also, a joke about actor Stanley Tucci making the best Bellini cocktails, was also left out of the final broadcast.

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Notably, one Trump joke did make it, in which Tennant poked fun at his signature hairstyle. He said, “It’s the boldest architecture in film this year, apart from Donald Trump’s hair in The Apprentice.”

In another joke, David Tennant compared Trump with infamous villains and said, “Nosferatu, Hugh Grant in Heretic, and most chilling of all, [Wallace and Gromit antagonist] Feather McGraw.”

BBC's reply on omission

When asked why BBC decided to cut out many jokes, the British broadcaster explained that the show’s broadcast requires editing due to time constraints.

BBC said the trims were not unusual, as the awards show typically needs to be condensed before airing.

Meanwhile, check out the full list fo winners of BAFTA 2025 here. Conclave, Anora, The Brutalist picked big wins.