BBC remove Baftas recording from iPlayer following racial slur incident
The BBC has removed the recording of the Baftas ceremony after Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur at Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan during the show.
The BBC failed to cut the racial slur shouted by Davidson in the initially uploaded recording. The incident took place during the presentation of the first award of the night, ‘Best Visual Effects’, which went to Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The ceremony, which took place at London’s Royal Festival Hall, was pre-recorded on a two-hour delay before being broadcast on BBC One.
The recording then remained on iPlayer the morning following the ceremony, but was removed at approximately 11:30am on February 23rd, as per Deadline.
Users trying to access the recording are instead met with the warning, “This episode will be available soon.”
The BBC also released a statement apologising for the unfortunate incident, sharing, “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.”
The Baftas host, Alan Cumming, did reference the moment twice across the night, sharing, “Thanks for your understanding and helping create a respectful space for everyone.”
The statement from the BBC also referenced the fact that the word was not initially edited out of the footage, adding, “We apologise that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iPlayer.”
The incident has caused much discussion online, with actor Jamie Foxx stating that the language was “unacceptable”. Additionally, Sinners’ production designer Hannah Beachler has released a statement sharing her opinion on the matter, saying in part that “what made the situation worse was the throw-away apology of ‘if you were offended’ at the end of the show.”
In an exclusive statement shared with Far Out, UK charity Tourettes Action has deemed the media response to the matter “extremely saddening, particularly given how hard John works to raise awareness and understanding.”
Though the BBC failed to edit this occurrence out, they did edit out a segment of Akinola Davies Jr. winner’s speech, after the My Father’s Shadow director called for a “free Palestine.”
The BBC said of the cut, “The live event is three hours and it has to be reduced to two hours for its on-air slot. The same happened to other speeches made during the night and all edits were made to ensure the programme was delivered to time.”
Last summer, the BBC’s stance on censorship was at the heart of a media debate during Glastonbury Festival after controversy was caused by the British punk band Bob Vylan when they began a chant of “Death, death to the IDF“.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.