The BBC has been found to have breached its editorial standards after broadcasting a racial slur during the Bafta awards ceremony in February. The corporation's executive complaints unit (ECU) ruled that the inclusion of the N-word was 'highly offensive' and lacked editorial justification, though it deemed the breach unintentional.
The slur was uttered by John Davidson, a Tourette syndrome campaigner, as actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan presented an award. The broadcast remained on BBC iPlayer overnight before being removed, which the ECU described as a 'serious mistake' that aggravated the offence.
The BBC apologised for the incident, with chief content officer Kate Phillips writing to those affected. She acknowledged the hurt caused and vowed to learn from the error, including strengthening pre-event risk assessments and reviewing production setups for live events.
Separate complaints about the editing of a 'free Palestine' remark from Akinola Davies Jr's acceptance speech were not upheld. The ECU found the decision was based on time constraints, not impartiality concerns.
