The annual BAFTA Tea Party in Los Angeles ebbs and flows in importance in past awards seasons. I tend to think it depends on whether there are many British films getting Oscar buzz, but that buzz will often dictate turnout, as awards hopefuls want to be seen at all of the biggest and most significant events with Oscar voters. This year is not a big year for British films. In fact, one of the most buzzed-about films this year is (gulp) an Irish production, The Banshees of Inisherin. The only British actor getting film-award buzz this year is Bill Nighy, and his campaign has been very subdued.
My point? This year’s BAFTA Tea Party was kind of meh anyway – it fell on the Saturday of a three-day federal holiday weekend (with Martin Luther King Jr. Day) in America. It happened the day before the Critics Choice Awards. The tea party did get an okay turnout, with Cate Blanchett, Angela Bassett, Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh and Kate Hudson in attendance. But I think this year’s event will go down in history as “the BAFTA tea party which tried to clout-chase the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by announcing that Harry and Meghan were snubbed.” For real. All of this is coming from BAFTA, by the way. None of it is coming from the Sussexes.
Harry and Meghan were not invited to the biggest British showbiz night in Hollywood — because they were “not welcome” amid the fallout from his attacks on the Royal Family. They were “snubbed” by the Bafta Tea Party in LA on Saturday, sources claimed yesterday.
The pre-awards bash at the plush Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills attracted megastars including Cate Blanchett and Kate Hudson. And excited US PR advisers had been keen to capitalise on publicity surrounding Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series. But a Bafta insider claims executives in London rejected the idea of inviting the Sussexes.
The source, a Bafta consultant, said: “Bafta decided it was a terrible idea, they thought it would be a PR disaster. Prince Harry, in his book and docu-series, has roundly attacked the Royal Family. The US team was reminded that Harry’s arch-nemesis, his brother Prince William, is president of Bafta. So for them to roll out the red carpet to Harry and his wife would be like setting off a nuclear bomb. It’s a no go. Any interviews he or Meghan gave would go viral. Anything negative on William would be devastating.”
The rumblings at Bafta have been kept secret and Prince William’s PR team had no knowledge or involvement in any of the decision-making. A spokesman for William did not want to comment. A Bafta spokeswoman denied a Harry and Meghan invite had been discussed.
First of all, hahahaha. Second of all, BAFTA wishes. Third of all, this pettiness reeks of Peggington using his position as BAFTA president to call people with this dumb story. Fourth of all, Harry and Meghan did not ask for an invitation to a stupid BAFTA tea party. Who f–king cares? They only turn up at events where they’re receiving awards!!! It’s far more likely that IF Harry and Meghan ever come out for an awards-season event, it will be one of the biggest ones, like the Oscars. Or the Vanity Fair Oscar party. Or both. Imagine the British Film Academy wanting everyone to know that they got their panties in a bunch about NOT sending an invite to the Sussexes. William is such a moron.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, WENN.
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- Sunday 2nd February 2020. Royal Albert Hall , London, UK The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend the EE British Academy Film Awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall. The Duke, President of the British Film Academy Award of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and The Duchess will meet BAFTA representatives and watch the ceremony. The Duke?Äôs tenth year as President of BAFTA.,Image: 563239484, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: PA ROTA / Avalon
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- HRH Prince William – The Duke of Cambridge departs BAFTA, London, England, UK on Thursday 27 January, 2022.,Image: 656908125, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
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- HRH PRINCE WILLIAM TODAY VISITED THE NEWLY REOPENED BAFTA HQ WHERE HE MET PARTICIPIANTS OFTHE BURSARY AND SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMMES AND TO MEET PARTICIPIANTS IN THE MENTORING PROGRAMME,Image: 656914822, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: PAUL GROVER / Avalon
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- New York City, NY – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, seen during the red carpet arrivals at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala held at the New York Midtown Hilton Hotel. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry BACKGRID USA 6 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York City, NY – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, seen during the red carpet arrivals at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala held at the New York Midtown Hilton Hotel. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry BACKGRID USA 6 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York City, NY – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, seen during the red carpet arrivals at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala held at the New York Midtown Hilton Hotel. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry BACKGRID USA 6 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York City, NY – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, seen during the red carpet arrivals at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala held at the New York Midtown Hilton Hotel. Pictured: Meghan Markle, Prince Harry BACKGRID USA 6 DECEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Sunday 2nd February 2020. Royal Albert Hall , London, UK The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend the EE British Academy Film Awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall. The Duke, President of the British Film Academy Award of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and The Duchess will meet BAFTA representatives and watch the ceremony. The Duke’s tenth year as President of BAFTA. Where: London, United Kingdom When: 02 Feb 2020 Credit: WENN/Avalon **WENN/Avalon**
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- Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge arrive for the BAFTA 2019 Awards at The Royal Albert Hall in London, Sunday Feb. 10, 2019.
LOL. Also, BAFTA has probably pissed off a lot of the people who did attend and now have their names dragged into this shit. Way to actually cause real problems for the organizations you are allegedly supporting, Willie boy!
Amen to that! I know Angela Bassett didn’t sign on to letting herself be used as a bludgeon against Harry and Meghan. This was really, really dumb–it might mean that more people refuse to attend the Baftas or any bafta events in the future.
I am waiting for her response with baited breath. I can’t really imagine her staying quiet, if this gains traction.
Should be interesting to see what any of the attendees actually will say in response to what I expected will be the tabloids playing this up to the nines and most likely trying to say those stars support Willy and not H&M.
When was the last time William even showed up for a BAFTA event? Snubbing Hollywood’s hottest couple for someone who DGAF seems like a bad PR strategy to me.
More America’s than Hollywood’s. They are more global than just Hollywood.
I WAS SNUBBED BY THR BAFTAS AS WELL!!!
I wasn’t invited. I wasn’t nominated. I’m not in the industry. I’m not British.
I WAS SNUBBED I SAY!
LOL I was gonna say the same thing – How dare they, they snubbed me too!
William has such a weak game and his team is so amateur is funny. A bunch of clowns
You can’t see me, but I now have the biggest smile on my face this morning. Thanks! And sorry about the snub. 😉
Well I was snubbed as well and I’m a Brit. Even my local shop keeper was snubbed 😂😂😂yeah we really care, NOT, and I doubt they would have gone if asked. Harry and Megan are most probably to busy trying to sort their home out after the terrible storms (hope your all safe as well). Isn’t it funny just how many people just HAVE to mention Harry and Megan to publicise themselves or an event
So are they just leaning into the brand that Brits are a bunch of snobs that revel in being the ultimate gate-keepers? Not saying all Brits are snobs, I don’t think they are, but these headlines sure are trying to make it seem that way.
That’s certainly been the stereotype about aristocratic and other “posh” Brits for at least a couple hundred years. And it’s been proven correct over and over again. They don’t understand that it’s not a positive thing, and not seen as positive by the rest of the world. It’s not 1890 any more.
“BAFTA wishes,” indeed!
Kaiser, can we start a thread about how cool it would be to see H&M EGOT through Archewell?
Perleeeese…..look at the “source”. It’s The Scum. They make up fairy stories and lie, continually.
I’m BAFfled. There’s a BAFTA Tea Party? Is that like “hot tea” will be served? Or like Boston Tea Party? Tee-hee.
I’m sure H&M are heart-broken they didn’t have an invite to “regrets” to.
What a bunch of idiots!
This sounds so much like Bafta invited them and they declined, so to say they were not invited and snubbed was just face saving.
Lmaoooooo. It’s giving desperation, Willy.
It is painfully desperate.. especially that he had them write a denial that he was the petty adult behind all of it. Not very dignified of a 40 year old man who might be King one day. Best thing Prince Harry ever did was move far away from that man child and get himself and his family out from under his financial and employment control. No one is fooled be the BAFTA denial 🙄
Unless Chuck Fs up hugely on national matters or lives to be 100, I don’t think the monarchy will fall before Willy gets his shot but I do think he’ll be the killing blow to the monarchy.
At the end of the piece it says that BAFTA never discussed inviting Harry and Meghan so who’s lying? Anyway, why would BAFTA invite Harry and Meghan when they’re not nominated for anything and it’s for that reason that Harry and Meghan would not have gone to the event.
No surprise here. Will went out of his way to make certain the world was aware that he had snubbed Princess Lili’s first birthday party. He is trash.
Good reminder, that was an amazingly classless thing to do. Though to be fair Lili probably enjoyed him not being there
The Sussex’s don’t want to attend real events in Hollywood like VF Party, Oscars or Governors Ball, why would the be concerned about a tea party? They don’t need to be seen.
What this is probably doing is reminding the Hollywood Brits is that a half in half out Harry and Meghan probably would be attending the BAFTA tea parties in LA and generating far more attention for their functions. Nobody even noticed this happened until this whole mess.
My understanding is that BAFTA came up with the smart idea of calling their events tea parties so they could hold them in the afternoon, thus not competing with all the evening and lunchtime events. I hope one could get tea and a scone, but I’ve never been invited.
It’s giving desperation, lol. They’ve never been since they went to the states and now they’re snubbed. Either Bafta is using the event to gain more traction or the tabloids/Will are truly dumb. Nobody cares about a tea party. Literally at all.
Not only is Will president of BAFTA, but the long time, former BAFTA CEO now has Jason’s former position as head of the Royal Foundation. Cozy.
The wall to wall coverage the BAFTAs would have if Harry & Meghan graced them with their presence.
This is just bitter tea that their patron is Will the Witless & nothing about him sparkles or shines.
Why would any sentient being expect the Sussexes to be invited to a BAFTA event when they have no project in contention for an award? And, if invited, why would any sentient being believe the Sussexes would accept a clout chasing invitation that would subject them to crowds of paps and make the entire event/story to be about the BRF narrative of them, Spare and the docuseries?! Nuts.
“Don’t bother quitting because you’re fired!”
how are they not embarrassed putting this out here. clowns
I get that they might not be welcome (given whom the Patron of BARFTA is), but why announce it ?
I think Bill is playing with fire. Black showbiz brits, like to stay away from controversy as it’s such a small pool – but if Bill and the BRF continue to over-play their hand and mistreat H&M like this – it could get messy for them.
Black Brits have not much to lose anyway – but an absence of brown faces in a sea of pale and stale could really hurt funding of future projects.
The UK is turning into a nightmare Banana republic – someone please send help.
Harry and Meghan tried to help and were driven out. Until you can manage to change the tabloid and even general journalism culture over there (the BBC and Guardian have been awful too), I don’t know that anyone else is going to chance the hornets’ nest. I can cheer for you from across the ocean.
I wonder how BAFTA feels about William being so derogatory about actors. Him trying to talk Harry out of his feeling using meghan being an actor relly reeks of the 1800s.
This is such a mean and petty look for BAFTAand for William. Someone put this out there – William? BAFTA? IDK who but its a bad look.
was anyone even wondering why H&M weren’t there? They haven’t put out a movie (I know BAFTA is for TV as well, but right now this is movie awards season and the buildup to the Oscars) and aren’t otherwise associated with BAFTA, so why would they be there?
No one would really expect them to attend but someone at KP clearly wanted it known that the Sussexes couldn’t attend, they werent invited!!!!
Right? All this does is just have W tell ok himself and expose him for the petulant man-baby he is 🙄
Willy has so few strings to pull in the USA that the best he could do was leak that the Sussexes were snubbed and didn’t get an invite to a BAFTA tea party.
The BAFTA spokesperson when asked about the snub said no discussion of Sussex invites took place. Its amateur hour all day every day at KP.
I watched a video by a young English guy who mentioned the BAFTAs in passing and said it was okay if you didn’t know what they were, nobody did. I don’t think they’re big even in Britain. I didn’t know what they were until learning that Will was the president who rarely attends and uses them to be petty. Maybe if they had a real president who actually did work for them, they’d matter.
Oh good God, (BAFTA reminds me) are we going to be getting another copykeening: gaslight edition gown this year?
Also M&H have the Digital Civil Rights award in partnership with NAACP Image awards, could that possibly result in an annual appearance for them? I would absolutely LOVE that
Seriously, I didn’t even know there was a BAFTA Tea Party. I thought the BAFTAs were only held in the UK. Therefore, if anything William has used H&M for brand recognition because up until today I’ll wager very few Brits knew about the “Overseas” event.
Waiting to see if Peggers awards himself again this year for Earthsh*t crap
That would be hilarious. Especially, as we know only 302 people were watching the PBS live stream. 😆
On a more serious note as President of the BAFTAs I think it’s pretty poor that few people in the UK know about the “Overseas” event. Surely, he should be out there “pressing the flesh” and promoting the British film/TV industry?
We’re back to this petty stupid stuff again to distract from Spare. They’ve been doing this for 3 years straight since Harry and Meghan left. From Obama’s bday to Oscar’s, Beckham wedding, mayor khan etc etc…
It’s always Harry and Meghan “snubbed” when usually it’s they were invited and declined. They’ve never attended an award show except when receiving or creating a grant.
It’s all for clicks and distraction.
My workplace is holding its annual retreat this evening. I guess we are also “snubbing” Harry & Meghan since the definition of snubbing has been changed to mean not inviting someone who has no reason to attend your event and wouldn’t want to even if they knew about it.
Perfect nutshell!
Why would the Sussex’s even go to the BAFTA awards? Please.
Were the Sussexes annual attendees to this event?
Are they on the membership roll?
So, how were they snubbed?
BAFTA is forced to take a ‘side’, what is on the menu?
Just Growup!!
Have H&M ever been invited to the BAFTA Tea Party?
Omg is William going to be bringing up unrelated events that have nothing to do with the Sussexes and insist they were snubbed? Why would they go to the BAFTAs? As far as I know, Meghan never attended the BAFTAs during her acting days. I don’t think Harry ever attended the BAFTAs either as a senior royal? There would be no reason for either Harry or Meghan go unless something Archewell Productions had made got nominated for a million awards and somehow got nominated for a BAFTA, which I don’t see happening. William really is so territorial about what’s his, like he tried to act like he owned the entire African continent and was the only one who could do conservation. What’s next? Banning the Sussexes from the East Coast?
Workshy just keeps opening the front door of KP to tell on himself.
Absolutely wild.
How did this man reach the tender age of 40 with zero self awareness? This man better hope the monarchy doesn’t end in the next 30 yrs, because unlike his brother, he will be utterly incapable of functioning outside The Firm’s system.
William is the President of BAFTA and can rarely be bothered to attend the awards. Why would the Sussexes expect or want to be invited to the BAFTA tea party in Los Angeles? They’ve never been invited before, and Harry has never gone to BAFTA events in the UK. Even if they were invited, they probably wouldn’t go because it is William’s thing.
They just want everyone to know that they refused to have people there who no one expected to attend in the first place? What?
Considering this is William’s patronage, there is no way the Sussexes would ever want to get within striking radius of the BAFTAs and they know this. Also the Sussexes goal has never been just Hollywood. They have a bigger radius and it’s not, nor ever has been, their main focus, nor is it new to Meghan. It is the UK press that use Hollywood as an insult. They don’t even have anything in contention this awards season anyway. This looks petty and unprofessional on the part of the BAFTAs.
So basically what I get from this article is that the only person actually connected to BAFTA who spoke, the BAFTA spokesperson cited at the very end, denied that they even talked about inviting the Sussexes enough to pointedly disinvite them. This all reeks of William being petty and inventing a story about the Sussexes being snubbed where none existed. They just took the circumstance of them not being present at the BAFTA Tea for awards nominees, which makes sense given that they haven’t done or been nominated for anything in this Hollywood awards season, which is what the tea is for, and created a story about how them not being there was an intentional snub. This is so stupid.
It’s weird the Sun article calls it “Bafta”. It is an acronym for British Academy of Film and Television Arts, so it makes the writer look like they don’t know what they are writing about when they call it Bafta.
UK press style conventions only capitalise the first letter of an acronym . I agree, it’s weird and confusing, especially when reading about the Who. The band? Or the World Health Organization?
But sorry, it’s not a choice by the Sun.
An English “tea party?” How quaint, and in America, too. Good thing it doesn’t take place in Boston. Up side, now more people know that BAFTA has a tea party. Don’t recall Harry ever had anything to do with BAFTA, Meghan either. And having to state at the end, that an invitation was never discussed, because the Sussexes never had anything to do with BAFTA. I wonder how it feels to earn a living writing petty, useless garbage like this article.
It’s messed up that William has any say over the BAFTAs, even if it’s just a stupid tea party. They’re meant to recognize, reward and hopefully promote excellence in programming. Getting them bogged down in petty one-sided sibling squabbles is not at all helpful to those goals. Quite the opposite.
So is this spokesperson (Cough *William*) admitting that he and Kate are snubbing their charities when they refuse to attend dozens and dozens of functions? Apparently tea parties are very important and not attending one is a giant statement right?
Sussexes on BAFTA: ……..
BAFTA to Sussexes: You’re not invited! And we weren’t gonna invite you anyway!
Sussexes: *and not a single f*ck was given on that day…*
What a bunch of assclowns.
Wait until “Spare” gets optioned and made into a major movie — and Harry gets a writing credit.
Hmmmmm, can you be snubbed if you don’t know you’re being snubbed? Interesting point.
Do you suppose that Fails and Wails wanted to go to this in LA? We know they like Hollywood and hobnobbing with celebrities. I have no idea if they would get permission to do so, but there’s no way they would come with H&M being so geographically close. After the publishing of Spare, I wonder what kind of reception they would get?
Perhaps someone should tell the press in the UK they’ve done a very good job of informing us in the US that the UK doesn’t like Americans. I suspect they’ll find this difficult to believe, but it doesn’t endear any of you (bm and brf) to us.
This child man is pitiful. He gave himself the Bafta for Earthshit which was earned by Chris Packham and Springwatch and it did not go down well at the award ceremony where no one stood up for them or clapped. He has now hired the woman who gave him the prize at Bafta then to work for one of his things. Kate is getting in with Chris’s sister, a wedding dress designer, by buying her dresses which are dreadful couture on her especially…….remember the green ‘gone with the wind’ netting horror? I am hoping Chris stays away from the royals and keeps up his rhetoric againgst all the abuse of nature on their private land like grouse shoots etc…..so far he has turned down any OBE’s or such. The Royals are trying to get in with actors/celebrities to get attention as no one turns up for them alone.