The chair of the U.K.’s parliamentary culture committee has written to the BBC to demand answers over the broadcast of the n-word during the BAFTAs on Sunday night.
“I am writing regarding the BBC’s coverage of the BAFTA film awards on Sunday,” the head of the committee, Caroline Dinenage wrote to outgoing BBC director general Tim Davie. “As you know, the BBC’s broadcast included a racial slur made as a result of involuntary tics by a person with Tourette syndrome. I am seeking an explanation as to how the slur came to be broadcast in spite of a two-hour time delay.”
“We have previously raised concerns with you about circumstances in which the BBC has allowed deeply offensive language to be aired, notably the broadcasting of antisemitic language during the BBC’s coverage of last year’s Glastonbury festival. This latest incident raises questions about the extent to which lessons have been learned and about the controls and systems you have in place to prevent such incidents.”
Dinenage has asked Davie to answer a number of questions over the incident, including “What specific systems do you have in place to prevent the broadcasting of such language? Why did these systems fail in this case?” She also asked whether the broadcaster had learned any lessons from “previous incidents, including Glastonbury.”
The BBC has been widely criticized for not censoring a Tourette’s campaigner inadvertently shouting the n-word during the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday night despite a two-hour delay between the ceremony and the broadcast.
John Davidson, who has experienced tics and uncontrolled outbursts involving cursing since the age of 12, shouted the n-word when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took to the stage to present the award for best visual effects.
The ceremony took place two hours before the broadcast, in part to allow for controversial statements to be edited out. A reference to “Free Palestine” during one acceptance speech did not make it into the broadcast on BBC One.
However the n-word slur can clearly be heard during a pause in Jordan and Lindo’s introduction to the nominees for best visual effects. The slur was still present on the BBC’s streaming service iPlayer on Monday morning.
Davidson had a number of uncontrolled outbursts during the first half of the ceremony, shouting “shut the fuck up” and “fuck you” a number of times before reportedly removing himself midway through.
“Sinners” production designer Hannah Bleacher indicated that she had heard the n-word three times during the night, including once directed at her, in a statement on X, which she posted after the ceremony.
During the ceremony a source told Variety that Davidson was an invited guest and stressed that under no circumstances would he be removed or asked to leave.
While there has been sympathy for Davidson, some anger has been directed at both BAFTA and the BBC for failing to censor or remove the Tourette’s campaigner’s outburst from the broadcast.
In a statement given to BBC News, a spokesperson for the BBC said: “Some viewers may have heard strong and offensive language during the Bafta Film Awards 2026. This arose from involuntary verbal tics associated with Tourette’s syndrome, and was not intentional. We apologise for any offence caused by the language heard.”
Last summer the BBC broke its own editorial guidelines by broadcasting harmful and antisemitic statements made by a performer at Glastonbury who went on a tirade abut a former record label boss he described as a “fucking Zionist” and “bald-headed cunt” and led the crowd in chanting “death to the IDF.”
Despite the BBC staff being aware of there being a “high risk” of antisemitic statements and having the option to cut the live broadcast, it went out in full.
BBC chair Samir Shah later called it “unquestionably an error of judgement.”
The latest controversy could not come at a worse time for the BBC, which is currently having its Royal Charter — the authority under which it is governed — reviewed. Part of that review will include funding options. The corporation is currently funded largely via a de facto tax called a license fee, which is required from anyone who watches any form of iPlayer or live TV on any platform or device. Currently the license fee is £174.50 for watching live TV in color. Conviction results in a court fine of up to £1,000 and non-payment of the fine can result in jail time.
The BBC is also embroiled in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit with President Donald Trump after the broadcaster was found to have doctored one of his speeches in a documentary about the Jan. 6 insurrection. The furore led to both Davie and the BBC’s head of news Deborah Turness resigning. Trump is suing the corporation in Florida.