Warner Bros immediately asked BAFTAs to edit out racial slur from BBC broadcast

The BAFTAs controversy surrounding the BBC broadcast of a racial slur has kicked into a third day.

Overnight, multiple outlets reported that Warner Bros, the studio behind Sinners, immediately requested the BAFTAs remove from the BBC’s delayed broadcast a racial slur, the N-word, that was directed at Sinners actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo when they were onstage.

Deadline and The Guardian both reported that the studio’s executives complained to the BAFTAs within minutes of the incident, and that they were assured the concerns would be relayed to the BBC as well as the production company, Penny Lane TV.

That account calls into question the BBC’s claim that the producers on the ground did not hear the slur, which is why it wasn’t edited out of the broadcast two hours later.

It’s not confirmed if a conversation between the BAFTAs and the BBC and Penny Lane TV took place.

The incident occurred when John Davidson, a Tourette syndrome campaigner whose life was dramatised in the film I Swear, involuntarily yelled the N-word while Jordan and Lindo were onstage presenting an award. He had also shouted other expletives during the ceremony, Davidson himself put the count at about 10.

Davidson removed himself from the auditorium about midway through the ceremony and later issued a statement that he was “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning”.

Earlier today, Davidson gave an interview with Variety that explained vocal tics, known as coprolalia, which affects about 10 to 30 per cent of those with Tourette syndrome, can be a debilitating condition that carries shame and discrimination.

He said, “I want people to know and understand that my tics have absolutely nothing to do with what I think, feel or believe. It’s an involuntary neurological misfire. My tics are not an intention, not a choice and not a reflection of my values.”

He added that he completely understood the historical significance of the N-word and it’s a slur he condemns.

Recalling his experience at the awards ceremony, Davidson said, “When my coprolalia tics came out, my stomach just dropped. As always, I felt a wave of shame and embarrassment hit me all at once. You want the floor to swallow you up. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to hide – just get away from all the eyes.”

I Swear won two BAFTAs at the awards, including for lead actor Robert Aramayo, who beat out Hollywood heavy weights including Timothee Chalamet and Leonardo DiCaprio. It will be released in Australia in late March.

The continued fallout from the BAFTA incident has been focused on not on Davidson but on how the BAFTAs and the BBC handled it.

Host Alan Cumming had before the ceremony addressed the audience about the possibility of strong language, and during the event added, “Tourette’s syndrome is a disability and the tics you’ve heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette’s syndrome has no control over their language. We apologise if you are offended tonight.”

Lindo later told Vanity Fair that he wished someone from the BAFTAs had spoken to him and Jordan afterwards. It took another day and after the controversy blew up, before the BAFTAs issued a more robust apology.

“We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism,” the organisation said.

BAFTA jury member Jonte Richardson, a black filmmaker, quit the organisation in protest. He said, “I cannot and will not contribute my time, energy and expertise to an organisation that has repeatedly failed to safeguard the dignity of its black guests, members and the black creative community.”

In addition to broadcasting the offensive word, the BBC left that version of the BAFTA ceremony on its streaming platform, iPlayer, for 15 hours before it was finally taken down.

The BBC has been criticised for leaving the slur in the broadcast when it had edited out other portions of the ceremony before it was aired on TV, including Cumming’s comparison of Zootopia 2 (“lies, corrupt leaders, poisoning and persecution of a race”) to current events in the US, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “piss off” in his acceptance speech, and “Free Palestine” from another winner’s remarks.

The latter was said by Akinola Davies Jr, whose film My Father’s Shadow won in the category of best British debut. The lead actor of that movie, Sope Dirisu, was scathing about the BBC.

He posted on social media, “That the BBC found wonderfully creative ways to censor Akinola’s beautiful speech about inclusivity, justice and freedom, but were comfortable and actively made the decision to broadcast a message of hate and intolerance shows where its priorities lie.”

In a related incident, Google sent out an app alert to some users which explicitly spelt out the N-word while linking to an article from The Hollywood Reporter about the BAFTAs controversy.

The tech company apologised through a spokesperson, “We’re deeply sorry for this mistake. We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again.”