BBC says sorry for falsely claiming Paul Mescal is British

The BBC has issued an apology and correction after mislabeling British Paul Mescal following this week’s Oscar nomination.

rom Maynooth, Co Kildare, Mescal was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Aftersun, one of Ireland’s record 14 nominations for Ireland at the 2023 Academy Awards.

The BBC wrote in a news release: “Oscar nominations 2023: British actors Paul Mescal and Bill Nighy nominated for lead roles.”

The British broadcaster’s apology said: “In text running on screen, we reported that Paul Mescal is one of two British actors to have been nominated for an Academy Award for the lead role.

“The text should have said that Paul Mescal is Irish. We apologize for the confusion.”

The 26-year-old actor is currently considered a good candidate in the 2023 Oscar race for Best Actor.

Announced on January 24, Mescal’s sister Nell Mescal shared their family’s reaction to the news on Twitter, with the Tweet receiving more than 40,000 likes.

Other Irish nominations include 10 nominations for Banshees of Inisherin and nominations for An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl), a film that brought the Irish language to the global stage.

Similar to the Golden Globes, Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Cordon have all been nominated for their roles in The Banshees of Inisherin.

Mescal is set to face Irish actor Colin Farrell for Best Actor at the Oscars.

Martin McDonagh, director of Banshees, was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.