The British Academy has responded to the controversy surrounding the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday night, where Tourette’s syndrome campaigner John Davidson made a number of offensive comments during the show. Among his involuntary outbursts — caused by his condition — was the N-word, shouted when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for best visual effects to “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
In a statement issued on Monday, BAFTA said that it took “full responsibility” for putting its “guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all.” It also said it wanted to “apologise unreservedly” to Jordan and Lindo. “We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism,” it said.
The situation was addressed in the ceremony on the night, where host Alan Cumming made two statements, thanking the crowd for its “understanding” of Davidson’s disability and apologising should anyone have been offended (a line later criticised on X by “Sinners” production designer Hannah Beachler, who described it as “throwaway”).
Davidson excused himself from the ceremony about halfway through, but the situation only escalated when the BBC kept the racial slur in its tape-delayed broadcast (something it too apologised for, before removing the program from its iPlayer streaming service).
In its new statement, BAFTA also took time to praise Davidson for choosing to leave the ceremony and thanked him for his “dignity and consideration of others, on what should have been a night of celebration for him.”
See the full statement from BAFTA below:
At the BAFTA Film Awards last night our guests heard very offensive language that carries incomparable trauma and pain for so many. We want to acknowledge the harm this has caused, address what happened and apologise to all.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
One of our guests, John Davidson MBE, has Tourette Syndrome and has devoted his life to educating and campaigning for better understanding of this condition. Tourette Syndrome causes involuntary verbal tics, that the individual has no control over. Such tics are in no way a reflection of an individual’s beliefs and are not intentional. John Davidson is an executive producer of the BAFTA nominated film, I Swear, which is based on his life experience.
We take the duty of care to all our guests very seriously and start from a position of inclusion. We took measures to make those in attendance aware of the tics, announcing to the audience before the ceremony began, and throughout, that John was in the room and that they may hear strong language, involuntary noises or movements during the ceremony.
Early in the ceremony a loud tic in the form of a profoundly offensive term was heard by many people in the room. Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the time, and we apologise unreservedly to them, and to all those impacted. We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism.
During the ceremony, John chose to leave the auditorium and watch the rest of the ceremony from a screen, and we would like to thank him for his dignity and consideration of others, on what should have been a night of celebration for him.
We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all. We will learn from this, and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.
From Variety US