Baftas backlash after BBC fails to cut racial slur from delayed broadcast

Yesterday 17:50

By: Dakir Madiha

Baftas backlash after BBC fails to cut racial slur from delayed broadcast

The British Academy Film Awards have become the focus of a heated debate over disability, racism and editorial responsibility after a racial slur shouted from the audience made it to air on the BBC’s delayed telecast. The incident occurred at London’s Royal Festival Hall as “Sinners” stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo stepped out to present the first award of the night, when campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome and inspired the nominated film “I swear”, yelled the n-word from his seat. Guests inside the venue had been warned before the ceremony that involuntary sounds or language might be heard because of Davidson’s condition, but viewers at home were not alerted and the slur remained intact in a broadcast that went out on a roughly two-hour delay.

Jordan and Lindo appeared visibly taken aback on stage yet continued with the presentation, as gasps rippled through the auditorium. Host Alan Cumming later halted proceedings twice to address the disruptions caused by Davidson’s vocal tics, which included other expletives shouted during earlier segments. “Tourette syndrome is a disability and the tics you have heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette syndrome has no control over their language,” Cumming told the star-studded audience, adding an apology “if you were offended” and thanking attendees for maintaining a respectful environment. Davidson, a long-time advocate for people with Tourette’s from Scotland, left the auditorium of his own accord partway through the show before later returning to celebrate when “I swear” star Robert Aramayo won best actor.

The BBC quickly came under scrutiny for failing to remove the slur from its coverage despite ample time to edit the programme before transmission. The offensive word could still be heard on iplayer the following morning, prompting the corporation to pull the ceremony from the platform and issue an apology acknowledging that “strong and offensive language” arising from involuntary Tourette tics had been broadcast. “We apologize that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iplayer,” the broadcaster said, promising that future versions would omit the remark. The episode has amplified questions about the BBC’s duty of care to viewers and presenters when airing pre-recorded events that involve potentially offensive material, even when that language is not intentional.

Political reaction added to the pressure. Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch condemned the failure to censor the remark as a “horrible mistake”, arguing that Jordan and Lindo “are the ones who need the biggest apology” and urging the corporation to explain why the word was not bleeped despite the tape delay. Disability charity Tourettes Action also suggested the BBC should have cut or obscured the slur from the broadcast, with vice-chair Ed Palmer describing the moment as “one of the most acute examples of where something that is a disability can cause quite understandably huge amounts of offence”. He told Times Radio that in a pre-recorded setting “bleeping it out might be a reasonable compromise”, highlighting the editorial choices available when balancing sensitivity to both disability and audience impact.

Advocates and those close to the film “I swear” urged the public to separate Davidson’s condition from the content of his tics, even while acknowledging the hurt caused by the slur. Tourettes Action stressed that tics “do not reflect a person’s beliefs, intentions, or character” and said the backlash directed personally at Davidson in the aftermath of the broadcast was “deeply saddening”. Aramayo, who plays Davidson in the Bafta-winning drama, told reporters that what viewers heard was not someone “shouting obscenities” in a deliberate sense but symptoms of Tourette’s, and said he hoped the uproar might at least lead to “a deeper understanding” of the condition. The row has left Bafta and the BBC grappling with a complex public conversation about how to responsibly platform stories about disability while protecting audiences and those targeted by hateful language, particularly when the offence arises from an involuntary act.