LEILA FADEL, HOST:
This year's BAFTA Film Awards - considered Britain's version of the Oscars - are at the center of a controversy after airing a racial slur. It centered on an incident in which the BBC broadcast audio of a man with Tourette syndrome shouting racist and derogatory language at Black actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo while they were presenting an award Sunday. Here's the moment, which ran on the E! cable channel in the U.S. several hours after the BBC's airing with the racial slur bleeped.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MICHAEL B JORDAN: Good evening.
(APPLAUSE)
JORDAN: Delroy and I are delighted to be presenting the first BAFTA of the night for a vital part of moviemaking.
JOHN DAVIDSON: [Expletive].
DELROY LINDO: We're here to celebrate the artists who expand what's possible on screen.
FADEL: Later, host Alan Cumming offered this explanation to the audience.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ALAN CUMMING: Tourette syndrome is a disability. And the tics you've heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you were offended.
FADEL: For many who were hurt by the incident, the apology fell short. The incident has sparked criticism of the BBC, which originally aired the outburst unbleeped while editing out other outbursts. And it's fueled a discussion of how to best handle inclusion at a major awards ceremony. Here to sort through all this is NPR critic-at-large Eric Deggans. Eric, thanks for being here.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Thanks for having me.
FADEL: So let's more fully unpack what actually happened. Who shouted the racial slur and how did it all unfold on Sunday?
DEGGANS: Well, the person who shouted out the N-word was John Davidson, a Scottish man with Tourette syndrome. And this is a disorder of the nervous system that can cause someone to move involuntarily or have verbal tics that they can't control. Davidson was in the audience because he's an executive producer of and inspiration for the film "I Swear," which portrays the life of a man growing up with Tourette's. Davidson issued a statement Monday saying he was, quote, "deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional."
FADEL: Why did the BBC air this moment when it edited out other parts of the show before it aired?
DEGGANS: Well, you know, the BBC originally aired the slur unbleeped, despite having a two-hour time delay for editing. They did edit out other comments, which led some people to wonder whether the BBC or the BAFTAs really appreciated the seriousness of this slur.
FADEL: Yeah.
DEGGANS: Now, they later edited it out of their streaming version. A source who works with the actors and who was not authorized to speak on the record told NPR that no one from BAFTA spoke to Lindo or Jordan immediately after the incident. And production designer Hannah Beachler, a Black woman who worked on the film "Sinners," posted on social media that Davidson also directed the N-word at her after the event.
She wrote, quote, "I know we must handle this with grace. But what made the situation worse was the throwaway apology of, if you were offended." The BBC issued a statement Monday apologizing for not editing out the slur. But they didn't explain why that mistake was made. And the BAFTAs also issued a statement apologizing for, quote, "putting our guests in a very difficult situation."
FADEL: This does raise the question of exactly what you do in a situation like this, where the awards want an important nominee to attend, but want to be sensitive to other guests.
DEGGANS: Well, you know, I spoke with James Saracini, a spokesman for the Tourette Association of America. And he stressed how key it is to keep people informed about such public situations so average audience members understand what is happening and why. Now, as a Black man who's also a media critic, I question whether the presenters and attendees were adequately informed. And I think the BBC should explain why they took so long to edit that slur out of recordings of the ceremony. Now, hopefully this is a teachable moment for both the BAFTAs and the BBC to show how much effort it takes to be truly inclusive and ensure that attendees know what might happen in the course of an awards broadcast.
FADEL: That was NPR's critic-at-large, Eric Deggans.
(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON AND MILES CATON'S "WHY YOU HERE / BEFORE THE SUN WENT DOWN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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