.png)
3 hours ago
7
Bafta has apologised “unreservedly” for the events surrounding John Davidson’s Tourette’s outburst at this year’s ceremony, after an independent review found “weaknesses” in the organisation’s planning and crisis procedures.
Davidson, an executive producer on the Bafta-winning film I Swear, dominated headlines for weeks after involuntarily shouting the N-word as Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.
On Friday, a review commissioned by the Bafta board identified “a number of structural weaknesses in Bafta’s planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements”.
In particular, it said, “the organisation did not fully appreciate the nature of the risk associated with a live broadcast appearance, early warning signs were not escalated, and the absence of a clear operational command structure limited Bafta’s ability to respond effectively once the incident occurred”.
However, the review did not find evidence of “malicious intent” on the part of those involved in delivering the event.
The Bafta board said it accepted the conclusions in full. It said: “We apologise unreservedly to the Black community, for whom the racist language used carries real pain, brutality, and trauma; to the disability community, including people with Tourette syndrome (TS), for whom this incident has led to unfair judgement, stigma, and distress; and to all our members, guests at the ceremony and those watching at home. What was supposed to be a moment of celebration was diminished and overshadowed.”
The review’s findings were released days after the BBC ruled its airing of the slur, despite a two-hour tape delay, breached the broadcaster’s editorial standards. Findings by the BBC’s executive complaints unit [ECU] said the inclusion of the N-word in the broadcast was “highly offensive” and “had no editorial justification”.
The ECU said the breach was “unintentional”, though it remains unclear why the ceremony remained available to stream on BBC iPlayer 15 hours after the event.
The Bafta board said it had written to those directly affected on the night to apologise. It said while the review was “clear” that the incident was not a failure of intent, Bafta’s planning and processes “have not kept pace with its diversity and inclusion goals”.
The board added: “We did not adequately or fully prepare for the impact of such an incident in a live event environment and as a result our duty of care to everyone at the ceremony and watching at home fell short.”
According to Bafta, work is already underway to address the specific areas of improvement recommended in the review to reduce the risk of it happening again.
This includes improving the escalation process and chain of information sharing around Bafta awards ceremonies, strengthening how to plan for and deliver access, inclusion, and support at their events, and addressing any internal cultural gaps that “may prevent Bafta from meeting its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion across all our work”.
In the days after the incident, Davidson said he was “deeply mortified” if anyone thought his tics were intentional, and reached out to the actors to apologise personally. He also said that Bafta and the BBC “should have been aware of what to expect” from TS, and that he had been told that any offensive words would be removed from the broadcast.
