LAST UPDATE | 25 Feb

JOHN DAVIDSON HAS said he feels the BBC should have “worked harder” to edit his verbal Tourette’s tics out of the Baftas broadcast on Sunday night. 

The BBC has since said it was a “serious mistake”.

Speaking to Variety, Davidson said the BBC “should have been aware of what to expect from Tourette’s and worked harder to prevent anything that [he] said – which, after all, was some 40 rows back from the stage – from being included in the broadcast”.

As Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects on Sunday night, Tourette’s campaigner Davidson could be heard shouting a racial slur on the broadcast. 

Lindo and Jordan paused for a moment before continuing. 

Davidson was attending the awards for his movie I Swear, which is based on his experience living with Tourette’s syndrome. Its star, Robert Aramayo, won the best actor award for his performance in the film.

Davidson said he believed most members of the audience would have seen the film and been aware of his condition. 

“As voting members [of the British Academy], most people in the audience would have seen I Swear and would be well-prepared, well-educated and well-informed about my condition.”

He was seated “40 rows back from the stage” and said that he had been assured by Bafta that any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast. 

During the broadcast, the award ceremony’s presenter Alan Cumming apologised for the language viewers may have heard.

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) today said it will complete a “fast-tracked investigation” after reviewing Sunday-night’s Bafta coverage, adding it was a “serious mistake”.

“The BBC has been reviewing what happened at Bafta on Sunday evening,” said a spokesperson.

Additionally, Britain’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee (CMS) today wrote to outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie “seeking an explanation” for how a racial slur ended up in the broadcast “in spite of a two-hour time delay”.

It also asked for responses to a series of questions, including why the coverage was not edited out prior to the ceremony being broadcast, “especially given edits were reportedly made to other parts of the programme”.

It also asks what specific systems are in place to prevent the broadcasting of such language and why these systems failed on Sunday.

And it asks what lessons have been learnt from previous incidents, including the controversy surrounding the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage, and why these lessons were not applied in this case.

Yesterday a senior BBC executive issued an apology to staff over their failure to edit the slur out of the broadcast. 

In a note, the corporation’s chief content officer Kate Phillips said the slur was “aired in error” and “we would never have knowingly allowed this to be broadcast”.

The note continued: “We take full responsibility for what happened. When I was made aware it was audible on iPlayer, I asked for it to be taken down.”

The BBC also apologised publicly on Monday.

Bafta also issued an apology on Monday saying it takes “full responsibility” for putting its guests in a “difficult situation”.

Bafta also apologised “unreservedly” to Jordan and Lindo, and “to all those impacted”, a day after Delroy Lindo noted that no-one from Bafta had spoken to him or Jordan about what happened.