The chair of the British Parliament’s culture committee has written to the BBC demanding answers over the broadcast of the n-word during BAFTA on Sunday night.
“I am writing to you regarding the BBC’s coverage of Sunday’s BAFTA Film Awards,” chairwoman Caroline Dinenage wrote to outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie. “As you know, the BBC broadcast included a racial slur that was made as a result of an involuntary tic by a person with Tourette syndrome. I am seeking an explanation as to how that slur was broadcast despite a two-hour time delay.”
“We have previously raised concerns with you about the circumstances in which the BBC has allowed highly offensive language to be broadcast, particularly anti-Semitic language during the BBC’s coverage of Glastonbury Festival last year. This latest incident raises questions about the extent to which lessons are being learned and the controls and systems in place to prevent such incidents.”
Dinenage asked Davey to answer a number of questions about the case, including: “What specific systems do we have in place to prevent the broadcast of such language? Why did those systems fail in this case?” She also asked whether the broadcaster had learned any lessons from “previous incidents involving Glastonbury”.
In response, a BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC is reviewing what happened at BAFTA on Sunday evening. This was a serious mistake and the Director-General has instructed the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to complete an expedited investigation and fully respond to the complainant.”
The BBC has been widely criticized for failing to censor a Tourette activist who accidentally shouted the “N-word” at Sunday night’s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, despite a two-hour delay between the ceremony and the broadcast.
John Davidson, who has suffered from tics and uncontrollable emotional outbursts since he was 12, yelled the “n-word” when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took to the stage to present the award for Best Visual Effects.
The ceremony was held two hours before broadcast to allow any controversial remarks to be edited and removed. References to “free Palestine” in one acceptance speech were not reflected in the broadcast on BBC One.
But during a pause when Jordan and Lind introduce the nominees for Best Visual Effects, the n-word slur can be clearly heard. The slur remained on the BBC’s streaming service iPlayer on Monday morning, but was eventually removed.
Sources told Variety that the n-word was not cut from the broadcast because production team member Penny Lane, who was on a “busy” editing truck, “couldn’t hear it.” However, Warner Bros. executives, who were in attendance to cheer on the BAFTA-nominated film Sinners, refuted the claims and said they had immediately raised the broadcast issue with BAFTA.
Davidson reportedly caused a number of uncontrolled outbursts during the first half of the ceremony, repeatedly yelling things like “shut up” and “fuck you” before leaving midway through.
“Sinners” production designer Hannah Breacher said in a statement about X posted after the awards ceremony that she heard the N-word three times during the night, including one directed at her.
During the ceremony, a source told Variety that Davidson was an invited guest and would not be removed or asked to leave under any circumstances.
While some expressed sympathy for Mr Davidson, others expressed anger at both BAFTA and the BBC for failing to censor or remove the Tourette activist’s abuse from broadcasts.
In a statement to BBC News, a BBC spokesperson said: “During the 2026 BAFTAs, some viewers may have heard strongly offensive words. This resulted from an involuntary verbal tic associated with Tourette syndrome and was unintentional. We apologize for any offense caused by the words heard.”
Last summer, the BBC broke its own editorial guidelines by broadcasting harmful and anti-Semitic comments by a Glastonbury performer who launched a blistering attack on a former record label boss whom he described as a “fucking Zionist” and “a bald woman” and who led the crowd in chanting “Death to the IDF”.
The live broadcast was broadcast in its entirety, despite BBC staff recognizing the “high risk” of anti-Semitic comments and the option of canceling the broadcast.
BBC chairman Sameer Shah later called this an “undoubted error in judgment”.
The BBC is also embroiled in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit with President Donald Trump after it was found to have doctored one of his speeches in a documentary about the January 6 riots. Mr Davie and the BBC’s head of news, Deborah Turness, resigned in the wake of the scandal. Trump is suing the company in Florida.
For the BBC, the controversy could not have come at a better time. The BBC is currently undergoing a review of its governing authority, the Royal Charter. Part of that review will also include funding options. The company is currently largely funded by a de facto tax called a license fee, which is levied on anyone who watches any form of iPlayer or live TV on any platform or device. Currently, the license fee to watch live TV in color is £174.50 ($236). If found guilty, they could be fined up to £1,000 and if they fail to pay the fine they could be jailed.
