John Davidson, a Tourette's campaigner who suffers from involuntary tics, was heard shouting a racist slur while black actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.
The BBC has been found to have breached its editorial standards when it broadcast a racial slur during its coverage of the 2026 Bafta Film Awards. The corporation said it was hit with a deluge of complaints after Scots disability campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette’s Syndrome which leads to involuntary tics, could be heard shouting as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects during the ceremony on February 22.
John's life story inspired the film I Swear , which won three out of six nominations at the ceremony, including Robert Aramayo winning Best Actor for his portrayal of Davidson. The moment was broadcast BBC One despite the awards being on a two-hour delay, and remained on BBC iPlayer until the morning after. John, from Galashiels, apologised for the incident but the 55-year-old said the BBC should have 'worked harder to prevent anything that I said' at the BAFTAs being broadcast, and questioned why he was seated near a microphone. John said he shouted 10 different offensive words during the star-studded event but the racial slur sparked mass criticism. He contacted Warner Bros to apologise directly to Jordan and chose to leave the auditorium after shouting the slur, adding that the BAFTAs team found him a private room with a monitor to watch the rest of the ceremony. A BBC’s executive complaints unit probe found the inclusion of the slur was “highly offensive” and 'had no editorial justification,' but added that broadcasting it was not deliberate. It said the slur should have been edited out of the iPlayer version when the event finished, but said a delay of several hours was caused by 'a lack of clarity among the team as to whether the N-word was audible on the recording'. The ECU added the delay was “a serious mistake, because there could be no certainty that the word would be inaudible to all viewers”. The report said: “The ECU accepted their account , for two reasons. Firstly, the use of the N-word in that instance was extremely indistinct, to the point where it might well not have been recognised by the production team. “Secondly, there was another occurrence of the N-word about 10 minutes later, which was recognised by the production team and immediately edited out in accordance with the protocols on offensive language which were in place. “There is no reason to conclude they would have applied the protocols in one case while deliberately ignoring them in the other.” The report confirmed the BBC’s chief content officer has sent letters of apology to Lindo, Jordan, and Davidson. At the time, then director-general Tim Davie said the BBC “profoundly regrets” the incident and that it was “a genuine mistake” which “should never have been broadcast”. Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE .
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