By now, you have probably seen, or at least heard, about the moment during the 2026 Bafta Awards Ceremony, John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome, shouted the N-word while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting on stage.
Let’s talk about it.
Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a condition characterised by sudden, repetitive sounds or movements known as tics. Coprolalia is defined as “the involuntary outburst of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks” (per The Tourettes Association of America), which is a form of vocal tic experienced by some people living with TS.
Dr Valerie Brandt, an associate professor at the University of Southampton, told The Guardian: “It is possible that coprolalia happens especially because someone is very aware of how inappropriate it would be to say a taboo word out loud. Combined with a difficulty to suppress verbal output, this could result in coprolalia.”
There is no debating whether the moment was offensive or not; it was, and Michael B Jordan, Delroy Lindo and Black people globally have a right to be upset that they were invited to an evening to be celebrated and at a vulnerable moment heard one of the most triggering words they could have heard in that environment.
As Sinners' production designer, Hannah Beachler said in a statement, “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.”
"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.
As a Black disabled person, while I don’t have TS, I can empathise with both sides of this unfortunate and mortifying incident. For those with disabilities, seeing reactions saying John Davidson shouldn't have been at an awards show sends a message that people living with uncontrollable conditions should simply be removed from public spaces, further emphasising why we feel marginalised. Our conditions are inconvenient. I feel the outrage of hearing a racial slur that we're often told to ‘respond with grace’ to, and know the reality of having a disability. We must expand our understanding to hold two truths: that his involuntary words were racist, but that does not mean he is, but that being subjected to racist language for the whole world to see is dehumanising.
And what role should institutions like BAFTA and the BBC play in situations like this? A duty of care to all involved would surely mean that this wouldn't make it into the final edit to cause large-scale embarrassment for all parties.
The incident happened while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award.
There was a two-hour broadcast delay between when the ceremony started and when it was aired on BBC One. It begs the question, who made the executive decision to keep that moment in and why? It was an unnecessary moment that could have been edited out without affecting continuity. This moment was kept in, but in contrast, Akinola Davies Jr (director of My Father’s Shadow)’s “Free Palestine” comment was edited out of his speech, presumably as they deemed that statement offensive. It’s giving we could have, but we didn’t want to. But I digress.
If you’re asking me, more should have been done by the BBC at that moment. At an organisation that big, someone should have edited it out for the sake of the public – especially the Black disabled community.
After the incident, Alan Cumming, the show's host, apologised on stage for Davidson's comments. “You may have noticed some strong language in the background there, this can be part of how Tourette’s syndrome shows up for some people as the film explores that experience,” he said. He added that he was “sorry if anyone was offended.”
The BBC has since issued an apology for failing to edit out Davidson's audible comments from their broadcast. A BBC spokesperson said: “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.”
As a society, I think we need to do a better job of holding multiple truths at once. Yes, the incident was awful, humiliating, actually, and no one, not Michael B Jordan nor Delroy Lindo or any Black person, should be on the receiving end of such inflammatory language. At the same time, disability exists on a broad spectrum; something as involuntary as coprolalia can be humiliating for the person experiencing it.
All things considered, we should really be holding the organisations that get to pick and choose what is seen as harmful or offensive accountable.
The BBC has apologised for failing to edit out a racial slur during the Bafta Awards ceremony.
