The BBC has apologised for calling Paul Mescal British in its coverage of the 2023 Oscar nominations this week.
The Irish star was nominated for the Academy Award for best actor for his turn as a Scottish dad holidaying with his daughter in Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’s acclaimed debut.
In a news bulletin, the UK broadcaster ran Mescal’s name alongside Bill Nighy’s as the two British actors to be nominated.
On its Corrections and Clarifications page the broadcaster said: “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.”
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In 2020 several news outlets referred to the actor, who had just starred in the acclaimed television adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People, as British. He subsequently tweeted: “I’m Irish.”
