Actress and BAFTAs host Joanna Lumley has been slammed by viewers after making a quip about the Ku Klux Klan during her opening monologue at the awards in London today.
The Absolutely Fabulous star opened the ceremony today with a series of jokes about the nominated films and its stars, including Blackkklansman, which was up for five awards.
Addressing director Spike Lee and one of its stars, Adam Driver, the 72-year-old said, "It's an incredible film. It's already won many awards".
"I'm surprised it did so well at the Klan Film Festival."
The line was met with silence from the star-studded audience.
British television viewers, meanwhile, took to Twitter to express their shock at the joke.
"Joanna Lumley's Klan Film Festival joke was ill-advised. Lowlight of a cringeworthy opening to #BAFTA," one user said in a tweet.
"'The Klan film festival'?! Imagine... someone actually got paid for writing Lumley's script. Shocking stuff," another wrote.
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