Broadcasting racial slur by Baftas guest with Tourette's was 'serious mistake', BBC says

The BBC has described the broadcast of a racial slur by a guest with Tourette syndrome during the Bafta Film Awards as a "serious mistake", and said its complaints unit would fast-track an investigation.

Tourette's campaigner John Davidson, whose condition involves involuntary verbal tics, shouted the slur while black actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at Sunday's ceremony.

A BBC spokesman said: "The BBC has been reviewing what happened at Bafta on Sunday evening.

"This was a serious mistake and the director-general has instructed the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to complete a fast-tracked investigation and provide a full response to complainants."

The ECU rules on whether BBC output has broken the corporation's editorial guidelines.

The Commons culture committee's chairwoman, Conservative MP Dame Caroline Dinenage, said Sunday's broadcast "raises questions about the extent to which lessons have been learned" from previous scandals.

She highlighted Bob Vylan's performance at Glastonbury last year, when the BBC streamed antisemitic remarks and other derogatory comments made on stage by the punk duo.

The committee asked why the slur was not edited out of Sunday's Bafta broadcast, what systems are in place to prevent such incidents, why lessons from Glastonbury were not applied at the Baftas, and what steps are being taken to prevent similar instances in the future.

The Bafta Film Awards ceremony in London was broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer on a two-hour delay.

The racial slur was audible to viewers at home, although many would have struggled to make out the word.

Davidson has said the BBC should have "worked harder to prevent anything that I said" at the event from being broadcast, and questioned why he was seated near a microphone.

He told Variety: "There was a microphone just in front of me, and with hindsight I have to question whether this was wise, so close to where I was seated, knowing I would tic."

BBC News understands the producers editing the ceremony for its delayed BBC broadcast were doing so from a TV truck and simply did not hear the slur shouted when Lindo and Jordan were on stage.

The BBC has apologised several times since Sunday's broadcast, and the ceremony remains unavailable to watch on iPlayer after the corporation removed it on Monday morning.

On Tuesday, the corporation's chief content officer Kate Phillips told staff the BBC took "full responsibility" for what happened, adding that another racial slur had been edited out of the broadcast.

In contrast, the one shouted when Lindo and Jordan were on stage "was aired in error and we would never have knowingly allowed this to be broadcast", she said.

In a statement on Monday, Bafta said it acknowledged the "harm this has caused, address what happened and apologise to all".

In a letter to its members on Tuesday, the organisation said it wanted to "assure all our members that a comprehensive review is under way".

Davidson, from Galashiels in Scotland, said he "had as much right" to attend Sunday's ceremony as anyone. He is the subject and executive producer of the film I Swear, which tells the story of his struggles with Tourette's and was nominated for six awards.

He said he shouted about 10 different offensive words during the show as a result of his tics, but the media coverage has given the impression the N-word was the only one.

After shouting the slur, Davidson said he chose to leave the auditorium "so as not to cause any more upset", adding that Bafta found him a private room with a monitor to watch the rest of the ceremony.

Variety reported that he has contacted Warner Bros in order to apologise directly to Jordan, Lindo and Sinners production designer Hannah Beachler, who also spoke about hearing racial slurs.

Davidson also said: "I want to be really clear that the intent behind them [the tics] is zero. What you're hearing is a symptom - not my character, not my thought, not my belief."

He said he felt a "wave of shame an embarrassment" after shouting the racial slur.

"What you hear me shouting is literally the last thing in the world I believe; it is the opposite of what I believe," he explained.

"The most offensive word that I ticked at the ceremony, for example, is a word I would never use and would completely condemn if I did not have Tourette's."

"The hurt experienced and the impact felt by the black community is real and deeply valid - words like these carry historical and emotional weight that cannot be ignored," she said.

"At the same time, the trolling, abuse, and hostility directed toward John and the Tourette's community in the aftermath have been profoundly painful. Nobody wins when communities are pitted against one another."