At the recent BAFTA Awards, John Davidson, a man with Tourette’s syndrome shouted a racial slur from the crowd during an award speech.
The 79th annual presentation of the BAFTA Awards was hosted Feb. 22, 2026 in London at the Royal Hall Festival. The ceremony honors the best performing national and foreign films for the year.
Director for Movie ‘Sinners’, Ryan Coogler, made history at the BAFTA Awards becoming the first Black filmmaker to receive 13 nominations for their film.
He won three different awards for Best Direction, Best Film, and Best Original Screenplay making history for that award as well.
However, later during the show an incident occurred when ‘Sinners’ stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award when they were met with a racial slur from the crowd.
Visibly stunned, the actors continued their speech with professionalism sending a quick shockwave through the nation after air.
The man who shouted was John Davidson who suffers from Tourette’s syndrome and involuntarily blurted out the insult. His condition was converted into a film that was also nominated for an award, he removed himself shortly after to avoid further incident.
The BAFTA issued an apology right after to the audience for putting them in an uncomfortable situation but nothing was said to the actors of which the comment was directed towards.
Many took to the internet in defense of Davidson feeling that he should not be held responsible due to his condition. Contrastly, others feel it is no excuse for what was said and those affected need an official apology from all involved.
There is belief that there was some racial motive behind the comment, feeling that even if Tourette’s tics are subconscious, what was said came from a place of ill intent.
“He could have said any other word but that’s the one his mind chose”, said junior health services management student, Mckinley Williams. “He should definitely be held accountable.”
Most of the backlash has been directed towards BBC for initially airing the ceremony with the racial slur still uncensored.
With the show being pre-recorded on a two hour delay before air, this is something that should have been caught and edited out.
A similar situation with the Free Palestine Movement was edited out but not the racial slur, leaving many to believe that the comment was left in intentionally.
The clip was removed 15 hours after but the damage was already done, leaving people outraged with how the entire situation was dealt with little regard.
Multihyphenate entertainer Jamie Foxx voiced his opinion on the incident over social media garnering much attention and similar feelings.
“Out of all the words, you could’ve said Tourette’s make you say that,” said Foxx via Instagram post. “Nah he meant it, unacceptable.”
Though apologies have been issued for the intensity of the situation, neither the BAFTA nor BBC has apologized for what was said, essentially avoiding the issue of racism indirectly.
Lindo voiced that he wished someone from the organization came and spoke to them about it afterwards but that did not happen.
There is acknowledgement that Tourette’s syndrome is a serious health condition but there must also be the same understanding for the racial discrimination that is constantly allowed to be perpetrated by traditional media outlets.
