BBC apologises after calling Paul Mescal ‘British’ in Oscar coverage

It happened again.

The BBC has issued an apology after referring to Irish actor Paul Mescal as "British". During the Oscar nominations earlier this week - in which Irish talent was very well-represented in general - Mescal earned a Best Actor nod for his performance in the indie drama Aftersun. Nominated in the category alongside British actor Bill Nighy for his turn in Living, BBC News said in text appearing onscreen: "2023 Oscar nominations: British actors Paul Mescal and Bill Nighy are nominated for leading role". Following criticism of the Normal People star being incorrectly claimed as British, the BBC issued the following apology:

"In text running across the screen, we reported that Paul Mescal was one of two British actors who had been nominated for an Oscar for a leading role. "The text should have said that Paul Mescal is Irish. We apologise for the mistake."

The BBC apology follows another incident involving the actor back in 2020 when the actor was forced to declare his nationality. In July of that year, when Normal People and Fleabag were hugely successful, Mescal and Andrew Scott were both dubbed as British in various media outlets when they were nominated for Emmy Awards, despite Mescal being from Maynooth in Kildare and Scott being a native Dub. Of course, it caused an uproar on Irish Twitter, so much so that Paul decided to take matters into his own hands and simply tweeted: "I'm Irish." https://twitter.com/mescal_paul/status/1288463823846936576 Related links:

• Barry Keoghan dedicates Oscar nomination to his baby son
• Paul Mescal's reaction to his Oscar nomination is everything
• Record Oscar nominations for Irish talent this year