With each passing day, the BAFTA controversy has gotten worse and worse. It was plenty terrible on Sunday night, when John Davidson, a man with Tourette’s, involuntarily screamed the n-word at Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo on stage. We learned soon after that Davidson also screamed the n-word at Sinners’ production designer Hannah Beachler when she was leaving the BAFTAs to go to dinner. This was made so much worse by Alan Cumming’s offensively half-assed “we’re sorry IF you were offended” apology within the BAFTA show, then compounded when no one at BAFTA or the BBC thought anything of leaving the racist slur within the two-hour-delay broadcast. The bullsh-t apologies from BAFTA and Davidson have made this into an all-around sh-tshow.

After Sunday, we learned that Warner Bros had repeatedly approached BAFTA organizers and requested that the racist slur be edited out of the broadcast. BAFTA refused to do so, as did the BBC. They’re all playing some kind of hideous and racist game over there. Delroy Lindo spoke to Vanity Fair and he kept it brief, but he did say that no one from BAFTA had spoken to him after the incident. Michael B. Jordan has been silent throughout this catastrophe. Think about it – this is his first time being part of this kind of critically acclaimed and much-nominated film. It’s his first BAFTA nomination, his first Oscar nomination. And he was so proud to be part of the Sinners team, and he accepted the chance to present an award at the BAFTAs, only to have a racist slur screamed at him. According to the British outlet Metro, MBJ is disgusted by the whole situation, and his parents were there at the ceremony too. Note: this story is probably British tabloid BS, but it’s one of the few stories (especially in the British press) to really center MBJ and how he’s feeling. Officially, MBJ is staying silent. But this might be how he feels:

Michael B Jordan was left ‘disgusted’ after being subjected to a racial slur on stage while presenting at the Baftas. On Sunday night the American actor presented the first award of the night alongside his Sinners co-star Delroy Lindo. As the pair prepared to hand out the best visual effects award to Avatar: Fire and Ash, Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson was heard shouting the N-word, which prompted gasps across the audience in London’s Royal Festival Hall.

Following the incident, the BBC removed the entire awards ceremony broadcast from iPlayer after facing backlash for not cutting the moment – despite it removing a director’s plea to ‘Free Palestine’ elsewhere in the broadcast.

Soon after Lindo told Vanity Fair that he and Jordan ‘did what we had to do’ while presenting, but that he also wished ‘someone from Bafta spoke to us afterward.’

However, a source has now told Metro that Jordan, 39, was left ‘repulsed by the outburst’.

‘Michael had to do extensive research into the horrific psychological effects of racism to prepare for Sinners so was disgusted, repulsed and grossed out by John’s outburst,’ they told us. ‘He read works by savants like Joy DeGruy Leary to prepare for the role, so the incident really reminded him about how much work has to be done to drive racism underground. He was having a difficult day already after finding out about an upsetting incident in the Atlanta area recently, so this just made it worse. But, he is having a great year and won’t let this stop him. He’s focused on his new movie The Thomas Crown Affair.’

However, after watching the event unfold, the actor’s parents were left shaken. ‘His mum and dad broke down in tears when they saw what happened to him and Delroy, and it has been a horrible 48 hours for the family,’ they explained.

‘Michael’s community in Newark was part of the Great Migration, which literally happened because Black people were being terrorised in the South. Seeing Michael and Delroy being called that word up there really hurt their loved ones, and so everyone is trying their best to support each other. He postponed some plans in London to spend time with his parents as he recovers.’

[From Metro]

I’m glad that there’s an effort being made to center Michael and Delroy, although I would like to see an even bigger effort. They did nothing wrong, they were doing their jobs and trying to celebrate Sinners’ staggering achievements. They had every right to be at the BAFTAs and on stage, when their moment and their achievements were hijacked by Davidson’s involuntary racist slur. The situation has been compounded for maximum damage by the plainly racist British film establishment and the racist BBC. My heart really goes out to Delroy, Michael, Hannah, Ryan Coogler, Wunmi Mosaku, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti and all the Black artists who were in the room that night and watched this racist bullsh-t unfold in real time.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, screencap courtesy of ABC.