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The BBC has issued a short apology for not editing out a racial slur from the BAFTA Film Awards‘ official broadcast (which aired on Sunday after a standard two-hour tape delay) and will now remove that unedited version of the ceremony from the broadcaster’s free streamer, iPlayer. The show is currently not available on the streamer.
While the outburst was not edited out of the show before it went to air and was made available on the streamer, Variety reports that another moment at the event, in which “My Father’s Shadow” filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. accepted his BAFTA Film Award for outstanding debut by a British writer, director, or producer, and ended his speech for a call to “free Palestine,” was.
It was the latest event in a rapidly unfolding incident that began just minutes before the annual show kicked off. John Davidson, a Tourette syndrome campaigner who is the subject of the fact-based film “I Swear” (which won two awards at the show, plus the Rising Star award for lead Robert Aramayo), was invited to the ceremony and seated in the audience.
Before the show began, The Hollywood Reporter shares that Davidson “was warmly welcomed by a floor manager … and attendees were informed that ‘John has Tourette’s Syndrome, so please be aware you might hear some involuntary noises or movements during the ceremony,’ as the housekeeping rules were laid out.” THR also adds that “this was the moment presenters were warned about Davidson’s tics, minutes prior to the ceremony kicking off.”
During the first thirty minutes of the show, Davidson repeatedly issued loud, involuntary vocal tics that were clear to those in the audience and on clips later circulated on social media. Per THR, Davidson reportedly “yelled ‘Bullshit!’ when people were asked not to curse, and ‘Shut the fuck up,’ when BAFTA chair Sara Putt made her introductory remarks.”
And when “Sinners” stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took to the stage to present the award for best visual effects, one of the first awards of the evening, Davidson yelled the n-word at the stage. In both the originally distributed broadcast and clips from the show, it is clear the stars heard the racial slur.
Despite the instant fervor around the incident and a two-hour tape delay before the show aired on BBC One and iPlayer, it was not cut from the first broadcast of the event.
As of Monday morning, the official BBC apology widely shared is as follows: “Some viewers may have heard strong and offensive language during the BAFTA Film Awards. This arose from involuntary verbal tics associated with Tourette syndrome, and as explained during the ceremony it was not intentional. We apologise that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iPlayer.”
Additionally, host Alan Cumming reminded both attendees and viewers throughout the night that “Tourette’s syndrome is a disability and the tics you’ve heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette’s Syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you are offended tonight.”
After the events of the evening, “Sinners” production designer Hannah Beachler, who was nominated at the show, took to X to share her own experience of the incident. “I keep trying to write about what happened at the BAFTAs, and I can’t find the words. The situation is almost impossible, but it happened 3 times that night, and one of the three times was directed at myself on the way to dinner after the show,” she wrote. “And a third time at a Black woman. I understand and deeply know why this is an impossible situation. I know we must handle this with grace and continue to push through. But what made the situation worse was the throw away apology of ‘if you were offended’ … at the end of the show. Of course we were offended…but our frequency, our spiritual vibration is tuned to a higher level than what happened. I am not [steel], this did not bounce off of me, but I exist above it. It can’t take away from who I am as an artist.”
English (US) ·