John Davidson, the Tourette syndrome activist at the centre of the Baftas N-word controversy, has said that Bafta and the BBC “should have been aware of what to expect” from Tourette’s and that he had been told that any offensive words would be removed from the broadcast.
In an interview with Variety, Davidson said Bafta had informed him “that any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast”. He noted that he had made four documentaries with the BBC and felt they should have anticipated his tics. StudioCanal, the backers of his film I Swear, confirmed to the Guardian they had also been told swearing would be removed.
Davidson said he remembers a microphone placed just in front of him and questioned whether that was wise given his condition. He was heard shouting several times during the ceremony before leaving early. The BBC, which broadcast on a two-hour delay, faced criticism for failing to edit out his shout of the N-word while Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.
Davidson expressed a “wave of shame” over the incident, stressing that his tics are involuntary and not a reflection of his beliefs. He said he has contacted Warner Bros to apologise personally to Jordan, Lindo, and production designer Hannah Beachler. He also highlighted that he ticced around ten different offensive words that night, not just one, and cited a homophobic tic triggered by Alan Cumming’s joke about Paddington Bear.
