Tourette's campaigner John Davidson has said he has "put the Baftas drama behind him" after he shouted a racial slur at the Film Awards ceremony. Davidson, whose life story inspired the Netflix movie 'I Swear', sparked a media storm when his involuntary outburst – shouting the N-word – was aired during BBC coverage.
The charity campaigner's well-documented medical condition caused the offensive shouting while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage. Some ill-informed critics accused Davidson of racism, failing to understand the nature of his condition. But Davidson told an audience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that he now looks back on the Baftas as a highlight of his life.
Backlash and Moving On
As reported in the Scottish Daily Express, Davidson said: "It was very unfortunate. I hate chanting these words. It happened, and we had to deal with it the best we could. There was a bit of a backlash online that I had to try and kind of ignore. Part of what happened, we weren't allowed to talk about."
He added: "As far as I'm concerned, it's under the carpet now. It's gone. We will learn from it. Hopefully, other people will learn from that situation. When that horrible incident happened, we got up and left. They ushered us down the stairs at the back of the stage. We were in an area with a bucket of beer, watching the ceremony on a screen, so I didn't miss any of it."
Recognition and Film Success
Almost a year on from its world premiere, the Scot says he is recognised everywhere he goes thanks to the success of the movie. He is played by Robert Aramayo, who claimed the best actor prize at the Baftas ahead of the likes of Timothée Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Davidson, who was born and bred in Galashiels in the Borders, said he was unconvinced at first that the English actor could convincingly portray him on screen.
He said: "Rob has got the strongest Hull accent you could think of. I was sitting there thinking, 'How the hell is he going to talk like me in a movie and make people think that it is me?' But he absolutely nailed it. I spent months with him once the script had been done. We would just talk and talk. I would tell him stories and my memories about how life was for me when I was younger."
Impact and Health Concerns
Discussing the impact of the film, which also starred Maxine Peake, Shirley Henderson and Peter Mullan, Davidson said: "There have been massive changes for me. I was known quite well, through some of the other documentaries that I've done over the years. But I would never have anticipated the film would be as big as it has been. I get recognised everywhere now."
He continued: "I cannot go anywhere in Britain without getting recognised. I have just been on a week's holiday in Arisaig, on the west coast of Scotland. It wasn't just people from the UK who were coming up for selfies and autographs. There were Chinese tourists who had come up on the Harry Potter train. The film has been dubbed and subtitled into all kinds of different languages. I get messages on social media from all over the world."
Davidson also revealed he had been seriously ill before the release of 'I Swear' after suffering heart failure. And he has been unable to travel overseas to help promote the film because of his concerns about involuntary outbursts in airports or aircraft. But he added: "We didn't want to make people feel sorry for me. We wanted it to be a rollercoaster ride of what it is like to live with Tourette's syndrome."
