The BBC has been forced to apologize after an image of Viola Davis from January’s Golden Globes was shown on its news channel with a headline identifying the Oscar winner as history-maker Beyoncé.
BBC News’ rolling coverage of the Grammys included a few seconds period when the image of Davis was matched with the caption “Beyoncé’s Big Night,” before the segment moved on to the next image.
BBC News has in the past hour apologized via a Twitter statement and said the error “fell below the BBC’s usual standards.”
“We apologise for the mistake last night when our news channels briefly showed a photograph of Viola Davis from January’s Golden Globes alongside a headline about Beyoncé at yesterday’s Grammys,” said the statement.
One BBC journalist, however, pointed out on Twitter that the error came as part of a “sequence about the other Grammy winners,” which is why it had indicated “Beyoncé’s big night.” He denied the Oscar-winning Doubt and Widows star had been misidentified.
This isn’t the first time the BBC has had to apologize for misidentifying someone. The broadcaster mistakenly mixed up Black Labour Party MPs Marsha de Cordova and Dawn Butler in 2020, which led Butler to chide the BBC for lacking diversity in the workplace.
Davis was nominated for The Woman King at January’s Golden Globes but last night became the 18th EGOT after winning the Grammy for Best Audiobook for her recording of memoir Finding Me.
Meanwhile, in winning her 32nd Grammy with album Renaissance for Best Dance/Electronic Album, Beyoncé made history, beating Hungarian-British conductor George Solti’s plus-20-year record.