The BBC’s decision to air a racial slur during the Bafta Film Awards on Sunday was deeply painful and entirely avoidable.
John Davidson, a guest with Tourette’s syndrome and the inspiration behind the award winning film I Swear, shouted the N-word while Sinners stars Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan were presenting an award.
What concerns me most is the failure of duty of care – to the two Black actors on stage, to the other attendees, including one production designer, who had a similar encounter, to the disabled guest involved, and to the millions watching at home.
The programme was broadcast on a two-hour delay. The BBC had the opportunity to remove the slur before transmission. That language should never have made it to air.
And that’s why I’m demanding answers from the BBC – and a better explanation than they’ve been able to offer so far.
Let me be clear: this is not about blaming a disabled man for a condition that can involve involuntary verbal tics. Nor is it about demonising people with Tourette’s syndrome (as I said, the BBC also failed in its duty of care towards him).
What this is about is accountability and editorial power.
The N-word is a racial slur with a long and violent history, and it continues to cause real harm to Black communities. It must never be ignored, minimised or mitigated.
My understanding from people who were in the room is that it was a traumatising incident which changed the atmosphere.
I understand that John himself saw the distress he was causing and removed himself from the situation.
I accept that this situation is messy and it is complex. The thing I cannot accept is that this pain could have been left in that room, but BAFTA and the BBC made choices that prevented that.
2,500 people in the auditorium experienced that moment. That is painful enough for all concerned. But due to a lapse in judgment or protocol that trauma was then amplified to millions of viewers all over the world.
It has made an indelible mark. The digital footage will never be totally scrubbed. And as I’ve said, it was entirely preventable.
It is especially troubling in light of the content that was edited out. The BBC removed a section of Akinola Davies Jr’s acceptance speech in which he said:
‘To the economic migrant, the conflict migrant, those under occupation, dictatorship, persecution and those experiencing genocide, you matter and your stories matter more than ever.
‘Your dreams are an act of resistance. To those watching at home, archive your loved ones, archive your stories yesterday, today and forever. For Nigeria, for London, Congo, Sudan, free Palestine. Thank you.’
Not only was this section cut, but other instances of inappropriate language during the ceremony were also edited out – the BBC confirmed today that a second racial slur was caught and removed.
I find it unfathomable that a political statement was deemed unsuitable for broadcast, yet a racial slur was not.
To create such a dichotomy in the first place – to even suggest that racial slurs are somehow apolitical – is farcical.
The BBC has since edited the iPlayer version. That is welcome, but it’s also the bare minimum, and it does not address the central issue: how this was allowed to air in the first place.
The response has been predictably slapdash and inadequate. A BBC News report today states that producers overseeing the ceremony from a truck ‘simply did not hear’ the slur.
As an excuse, it stretches credulity.
Producers will have been linked up to the audio just like the rest of us. Not only that, the host, Alan Cumming, apologised on stage afterwards, which indicates the incident was heard and acknowledged in the room.
Perhaps most troublingly, Deadline reported that representatives from Sinners production firm Warner Bros flagged their concern to producers in the immediately aftermath of the incident.
For all these reasons, and more, we need answers on the editorial process involved in this incident. Because of course people can make mistakes, but if we do not analyse how and why these mistakes were made, we cannot stop them from being repeated.
When we take a step back, we realise this situation inevitably raises questions about bias – conscious or unconscious. When decision-making rooms lack diversity and lived experience, certain harms are more easily overlooked or minimised.
The BBC is an institution I have often defended – that’s why this is a subject that matters dearly to me – but I cannot defend this. A public service broadcaster must meet the highest standards of fairness and care. In this instance, it has failed.
When there is diversity in the room, incidents like these are more likely to be heard, more likely to be taken seriously, and more likely to be acted upon.
Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo have had their needs dismissed, and their dignity sidelined. In the immediate aftermath, they were denied the acknowledgement and consolation they deserved.
More generally, I feel that Black people’s pain and discomfort must be taken more seriously. It often feels to me as though Black people are held to a different standard as to what we are expected to accept, endure and move on from.
Following my letter to the BBC Director-General, I am seeking a full explanation of how this serious failure occurred, and a clear apology to Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, who bore the brunt of this moment – one that, unlike the vague statement the corporation made on Monday for not editing the slur, but one that mentions those two actors and their hurt directly.
I saw and felt the pain on their faces and in their eyes; it was palpable. If I could feel it through the screen, then surely someone – or everyone – working on the broadcast should have felt it too.
And throughout all of this, my thoughts are also with John Davidson who has been exposed in this cruel way. I hope that he is being looked after too.
I want to be able to say that this will never happen again. But for that to be possible, we must demand accountability and change at the BBC.
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