Kate Beckinsale Slams BAFTA Over Email Saying Stepdad Roy Battersby Might Not Be Part of In Memoriam Segment
"So thanks again, BAFTA for your horribly cold email," Beckinsale wrote on Instagram, two days after announcing Battersby's death
Kate Beckinsale, whose stepfather Roy Battersby died on Jan. 10 at 87, is accusing the British Academy of Film and Television Arts of refusing to guarantee the late British television director a place in an In Memoriam segment at the upcoming 2024 BAFTA Awards.
Around the same time nominations were announced for the upcoming British film awards ceremony Thursday, Beckinsale, 50, shared a lengthy caption to an Instagram post alongside a black-and-white photo of her, Battersby and her mother Judy Loe, which stated "just after I presented my stepdad with the lifetime achievement BAFTA for his incredible work as a director in television."
"Today BAFTA told me they 'could not guarantee’ he would be included in their 'in memoriam' tribute to honour the industry members we have lost," Beckinsale wrote in the post's caption. "So a man dead less than a week somehow has to audition in front of a committee after a decades long career (in which he has been awarded from said organisation the highest accolade they have ) to decide IF his death is worth mentioning."
Battersby, who holds credits as a director for more than two dozen television shows, made-for-TV movies and and feature films between 1969 and 2006, received the BAFTA's Alan Clarke Award for his work in television in 1996.
"That has broken my heart all over again," Beckinsale wrote of the note from BAFTA, which she indicated came in an email. "I am paralysed, sick and sickened and I will honour him and his work every day of my life," she continued, noting that her mother Loe, 76, "has been gracefully and quietly dealing with stage four cancer for the last six years and just lost her husband."
"So thanks again, BAFTA for your horribly cold email," she added.
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Beckinsale also shared a screenshot that appeared to be from the email she received from BAFTA regarding Battersby's death to her Instagram Story Thursday. "All names we gather during the course of the year are brought before BAFTA's Obituaries Committee, which meets to compile the Awards In Memoriam segment — Film, Television or Television Craft — but we are never able to make any guarantees of inclusion," the note reads. "Roy's BAFTA win falls within Television and as these Awards take place in May, the In Memoriam will be discussed in spring. All good wishes."
A BAFTA spokesperson tells PEOPLE, “We were very sorry to hear of Roy Battersby’s recent passing - he was a renowned and trailblazing director. Roy Battersby was awarded the Alan Clarke Award in 1996, a BAFTA Special Television Award. We confirm he will be honoured in our forthcoming BAFTA Television Awards in May, and on the In Memoriam Section on our website.”
Related: Paying Tribute to the Celebrities Who Have Died in 2024
Beckinsale first announced Battersby's death on her Instagram Story Tuesday with a statement saying he died after “a brief period of illness." She had previously shared photos on Instagram of herself and family members gathered around a hospital bed while still wearing her silver Golden Globes gown on Jan 9.
"I fought for you with everything I had," she wrote in a caption to a separate Instagram post sharing a video and photo carousel of her late stepfather. "Oh Roy I am so sorry I lost.”
The 2024 BAFTA Film Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 18, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The organization's television awards are scheduled for Sunday, May 12.
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