The white man in these photos is John Davidson. He’s a British man with Tourette’s Syndrome. He was diagnosed in his 20s. His life story served as the inspiration for the British film I Swear, which was up for several BAFTA awards. Shockingly, the lead of I Swear, Robert Aramayo, won the BAFTA for Best Actor, beating out actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothee Chalamet and Michael B Jordan. Davidson attended the BAFTAs as an invited guest, given his association with I Swear. The BAFTA organizers made a special announcement, telling people that Davidson was in the audience and they might hear some outbursts from him, but explaining that those outbursts were Tourette’s-related. Well, things quickly went off the rails when Davidson shouted the n-word when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage. It does not sound like BAFTA host Alan Cumming said anything to MBJ or Delroy afterwards either.
BAFTA Film Awards host Alan Cumming thanked the audience for their understanding on Sunday night after a number of outbursts from Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson during the show. Davidson, who is the inspiration for BAFTA-nominated movie “I Swear,” was diagnosed with the syndrome at the age of 25. His symptoms, which first began when he was 12, include tics and uncontrollable outbursts, often involving cursing.
A number of outbursts could be heard throughout the BAFTA ceremony, including “shut the f–k up” being shouted during an introductory speech from BAFTA chair Sara Putt and “f–k you” when the directors of “Arco,” which won the BAFTA for best children’s and family film, accepted their award. During another outburst, the audience inside the BAFTAs heard Davidson shout the n-word when Michael B, Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for best visual effects to “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
“You may have noticed some strong language in the background. This can be part of how Tourette’s syndrome shows up for some people as the film explores that experience,” Cumming told the audience, which included the Prince and Princess of Wales. “Thanks for your understanding and helping create a respectful space for everyone.”
Later on in the ceremony Cumming made a further statement, saying: “Tourette’s Syndrome is a disability and the tics you’ve heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette’s Syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you are offended tonight.”
The outbursts could not be heard in the second half of the ceremony when Davidson appeared to have left the room. Variety understands he left of his own accord and was not asked to leave by BAFTA. A source told Variety earlier that Davidson was an “invited guest” and under no circumstances would he be asked to leave the ceremony. BAFTA did not respond to comment regarding whether the outbursts would be cut for the broadcast, which goes out with a two-hour delay on BBC One in the U.K. (In the U.S. and other international territories it goes out on BritBox International).
Before the ceremony began the floor manager also introduced Davidson to the audience, saying: “I’d like to welcome John Davidson MBE from one of our nominated films ‘I Swear’. John has Tourette’s Syndrome so please be aware you might hear some involuntary noises or movements during the ceremony.”
“We apologize IF you are offended tonight??” Come on. While Davidson did not have intent to use a racist slur, that doesn’t negate the impact of his words. Davidson has the right to understanding and compassion… but Black people have the right to exist without having to endure racist slurs in public. Jordan and Lindo have the right to compassion and care as well, but it doesn’t sound like anything like that was offered to them after they were racially abused on stage, in front of their peers. Lindo and Jordan also shouldn’t be lectured about how THEY need to have compassion after Davidson shouted the n-word at them when they were on stage at the BAFTAs. The same awards show which has historically failed to be inclusive. The whole thing – especially with Cumming’s repeated pleas for compassion for the white man who said the n-word – is incredibly dehumanizing for Lindo and Jordan, like there’s an expectation that they should NOT be offended at being racially abused at an awards show.
Currently, there’s a huge, messy discourse online about ableism vs. racism or racist acts/impacts. I won’t wade into what Davidson should have done or whether the BAFTAs were wrong or right to invite him. What happened happened. What I find disturbing is how the BAFTA organization mishandled it, how Alan Cumming mishandled it as host/MC, and how little comfort or compassion was given to Jordan and Lindo within the room (and afterwards). The BBC didn’t even edit the racist slur from their broadcast. I’m including the video of that moment below, because this is the real-time impact of what happened, and the discourse that Jordan and Lindo simply needed to eat that racism is an appalling argument. Apparently, Davidson also shouted the n-word at Sinners’ production designer Hannah Beachler too (I’m including her tweets below as well).
Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson shouted the N-word while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the BAFTA Film Awards
Host Alan Cumming thanked the audience for their understanding after several outbursts throughout the event https://t.co/h4Ekla5keG pic.twitter.com/8l6JLh6hHG
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 22, 2026
I keep trying to write about what happened at the BAFTAs, and I can't find the words. The situation is almost impossible, but it happened 3 times that night, and one of the three times was directed at myself on the way to dinner after the show.
— HannahBeachler (@HannahEBeachler) February 23, 2026
at the end of the show. Of course we were offended…but our frequency, our spiritual vibration is tuned to a higher level than what happened. I am not steal, this did not bounce off of me, but I exist above it. It can't take away from who I am as an artist.
— HannahBeachler (@HannahEBeachler) February 23, 2026
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
-
- Guests attend the EE BAFTA Film Nominees Party at the National Gallery,Image: 1077220996, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Delroy Lindo, Credit line: Phil Lewis/Wenn/Avalon
-
- Michael B. Jordan at the 2026 EE BAFTA Film Awards, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK, 22 February 2026.,Image: 1077390737, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
-
- Michael B. Jordan at the 2026 EE BAFTA Film Awards, Royal Festival Hall, London, UK, 22 February 2026.,Image: 1077391336, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards/Avalon
-
- Celebrities arrive at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards at Royal Festival Hall, London Featuring: Murray Gladstone, Dottie Achenbach, Chris Achenbach and John Davidson Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 Feb 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
-
- Celebrities arrive at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards at Royal Festival Hall, London Featuring: John Davidson Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 Feb 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
It was a huge failure of the BBC and the BAFTA to not only not edit it out, but also not to address it in a different manner and to apologize to the people who it was said to. Sorry if you were offended? Why yes I was offended by a racial slur being yelled at me at a work event.
Also, I can understand that this is not something that he neurologically can control. That does not mean that the impact is not the same of you yelling a slur at me in front of a global audience and a room full of my peers. I hope he is figuring out a way to reach out to them to explain and apologize for what had to be hurtful and humiliating even if it wasn’t intentional, but he really does need to release some sort of statement. He doesn’t need to explain his condition in the sense of apologizing for having it, but he does need to explain that he’s not okay with just yelling slurs.
Then finding out that he said it to another person associated with Sinners?!! If you want people not to make assumptions about your intentions you’re going to have to get ahead of this. Just assuming that people are going to be like it’s okay because of your disability isn’t going to work. I’m just tired of us always being expected to give grace and understanding to everyone else. And to always understand the nuance of things, but it never been granted to us.
THIS. Tourette’s does not cause racism, as others have said.
And the typical non-apology “Sorry IF you were offended…” remark suggests that they were not sorry at all. They know their audience, that’s for sure. Several probably sat there thinking “Damn straight! Who do these people think they are, thinking they can attend this event as equals among us?”
As a parent of a disabled child who tries to be educated about ableism, I fully support the movement by many advocates to achieve “rightful presence” for disabled people. In other words, people with disabilities should be fully incorporated in public life – not always shunted off into other spaces so everyone can feel comfortable, but embraced by one’s community. I give the BAFTAs credit for supporting John Davidson’s presence at the ceremony despite his coprolalia, and trying (however poorly) to explain to the people in the room so they could have empathy. However, I think the BBC did a great disservice in airing it. By all accounts, Mr. Davidson does not hold those views and it sounds like his outbursts are also painful to him; I can’t imagine he wanted them disseminated even further to hurt others. If the BBC thought they were “educating,” then then need to stop using disabled people as tools or props and treat them like people. If they wanted the sensationalism, they exploited a disabled person and knowingly put him at heightened risk of violence and abuse. I am horrified at the slur and that the actors had to hold their composure in front of a camera. I am also horrified at the hatred this has unleashed against a disabled person.
And also – for the record, the BAFTAs could have done a MUCH better job to create a REAL opportunity to include Mr. Davidson. “I’m sorry if you were offended” was absolutely inadequate to that moment. We don’t know what those conversations looked like – maybe Mr. Davidson didn’t want an advance announcement of his diagnosis, maybe he declined a prewritten apology for offensive statements, etc. But this is also a person who left of his own accord on what would have been, for any of us, one of the most memorable nights of our lives. I know social media is howling for him to prostrate himself sufficiently but I am wary of how the media is using this at everyone’s expense.
💯% sympathetically and supportively agree with everything you’ve written.
Thank you, Beana, for writing so sensitively on this matter. I agree with you for the most part. However, past experiences and observations make me pause at this statement:
“Mr. Davidson does not hold those views…” Who is to say?
By many accounts which I read last night and over the years before, Tourette’s does not cause racism. Disabilities do not cause people to say and do racist things. If anything, disabilities tend to highlight or reveal what was already there. The man didn’t shout that word at white people, did he?
Britain is a country which is filled with people who are very quick to jump in and make excuses for the worst and most deplorable tendencies of white people, with never a thought or care for the effect such actions have on their victims, chiefly black people. The gaslighting is off the scale there. No wonder Black people are over-represented among mental health sufferers in the country. Their entire lives are one long, painful journey of being told to ignore the realities of their lived experiences.
This is bad for BAFTA, but also truly bad for the UK as a whole. But not surprising.
Sorry Tourette’s does not cause racism.
From my (still limited) understanding, coprolalia is NOT about saying things you secretly believe but wouldn’t say. (It’s not like drunken truth-telling.) It’s more about knowing “the worst thing someone could possibly say in this moment” and then the brain says it. For example, when Mr. Davidson got an MBE from the Queen, he shouted, “F—the Queen!” and when he went through security he yelled that he had a bomb. Neither represented how he really felt; his brain just produced the worst thing he could possibly say. By all accounts, people with coprolalia become quite anxious about their outbursts, which then makes them MORE likely to think the “bad thing.”
I plan to watch the excellent films made about him to understand this even more.
I agree with all of this. I watched an extremely interesting documentary on Tourette’s syndrome, and it sounds horrific.
People with Tourette’s were explaining that in overwhelming situations they often blurt out the most specifically offensive comments to people/places they were encountering.
They should have edited out.
The BBC keeping it in the broadcast was a CHOICE. They edited out the pro Palestine comment but not this?
“They should have edited out.”
“The BBC keeping it in the broadcast was a CHOICE.”
Hard agree.
So no one gave an apology to Jordan, London, or Beachler?
The BAFTA President bored with racism so ..
This is a generous, insightful, and educated comment. I feel for all parties involved — except for the BAFTA Administration, who boldly shirked their responsibilities in preparing for, responding to, and especially protecting those were known to be vulnerable.
Why didn’t the bbc edit it out? Unbelievable. They’ll edit out a royal picking their nose during a ceremony but they can’t edit this out? GTFOH.
They edited out a commemt on Palestine but left this in?!
On behalf of my country, I am deeply, deeply sorry and ashamed that this happened
My thoughts are especially with Mr Delroy Lindo and Mr Michael B Jordan who had to face a hall full of their peers as it was said — and somehow still carried on with class and dignity
My apologies also to those who watched the broadcast or any of the viral clips and had to hear that. I am so sorry
@Beana – such a great comment. Very well said. The fault lies entirely with the BBC here.
Thank you! ♥️ I’m starting to ask, “who benefits here?” It’s not Mr. Davidson. It’s not any of the brilliant actors who had to hear those words. It’s the BBC who platformed this and turned it into a battle for clicks.
I think the bigger problem here is that the BBC and BAFTA had no problems airing the N word but, edited a black person’s acceptance speech so that we didn’t hear them say “Free Palestine” Make that make sense!
… the BAFTA president himself is racist who said that Sinners was ‘a bit dark’ and doesnt see a problem? Someone on twitter said he giggled?
William is the president yeah? So the BBC/BAFTAS being “very much not racist” fits then.
If Davidson had yelled out, “Free Palestine” would the BBC have edited that out?
@sure – I’ll wager that they would have. I would also wager they would have bleeped if Davidson had shouted out the F word to Alan Cummins. Yet, for some reason (known only to themselves) the BBC thought it was acceptable to allow the N word to slip through their censors. I’m furious.
I hope everyone Black just stays away from this show next year. The people in the audience tittering were gross. I can’t imagine how the Sinners and other Black people actors felt at that moment.
My thoughts as well. Is the n-word not considered a slur in England? Unless it offends the audience of Can’t and Won’t? What garbage.
BBC edited out a Palestine comment but left this in. Disgusting.
A non apology from the BAFTA but also non from the person who yelled the slur.
But I also noticed William saying he thought Sinners was ‘a bit dark’.
So when I taught my 4 yr old (now 27) that it doesn’t matter if you bumped into someone accidentally, you still apologize, I was wrong? No, I wasn’t. It’s called common courtesy.
You hurt someone, on purpose or not, you apologize directly, to that person, with no conditions.
He has a disability, but in this specific situation, still has a responsibility for the accidental words that caused great pain to other people.
And BAFTA and Alan Cummings, the way they acted like people directly yelled at should just be expected to, I don’t know, not complain? Not be hurt? Everyone deserves the same compassion and respect.
It’s reprehensible that the BBC didn’t edit the moment out of their broadcast despite apparently showing they had the means to do so in other moments; it stinks of allowing drama and controversy for clicks, all at the expense of three innocent men. It would have been such a meagre measure that would have allowed all three men a little more dignity in the situation. Deeply shameful of the BBC.
I take the side of feeling for all three men: Davidson for the humiliation and the inevitable backlash against the film and people with his condition, and Jordan and Lindo for being involved at all. Hopefully with space they’ve been able to contextualise the moment as being purely about Davidson’s condition rather than themselves and their (rightful) positions on that stage, but a better apology from BAFTA would have helped.
Davidson hasnt apologised so am not taking his side
They also reportedly were on the alert for any references to Prince Andrew to edit them out. But the N word was fine.
BAFTA and the BBC just handled the situation badly. The least the BBC could have done was edit out the slur. It just goes to show that Black people are always the last to get duty of care.
This was a shocking moment in live television. By the way, the BAFTAs open ceremony message regarding this man was to point out possible involuntary noises and movements, I guess racial slurs got lost in the message.
He has an illness, yes, but that does not invalidate the fact he directed a slur THREE TIMES and three different people. He should apologise!
I’m quite sure this is not the first time Mr. Davidson has erupted with the n word. So this horrendous incident was probably quite predictable. Yet, someone chose to invite him knowing that he not only swears uncontrollably but shouts racial slurs uncontrollably. What could possibly go wrong? I support the rights of disabled people to appear in public and at public events. But Mr. Davidson appears to have a racism problem along with a disability. That changes the game considerably.
This is BS I am sorry. We would have thrown hands so he had a reason to be saying the N word at that point.
Sadly, it tracks that a country that allows public commentary comparing a biracial newborn to a chimp would also be ok airing the n word on TV.
So no one has reached out to Micael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo yet, but the BBC removed the broadcast from their iPlayer, where things like this can usually be watched for a certain time afterwards.
Alan Cummings, whose reaction was beyond the pale, hasn’t said anything to anyone so far. His generic comment was a slap in the face of everyone in the audience who’s not lili-white.
Nor has John Davidson — or someone who represents him.
And now the ball is in the BAFTA’s court. Their leadership should have come up with a convincing, well thought out apology before the show ended.
But at least their president let people know years ago that he’s bored by racism.
@NANEA
They might issue an apology and then take it back later. (the same as the BM did with Doria Ragland)
This was handled shamefully all around. The BBC should have consulted experts to find out how to talk to the audience about someone with this disability, yes, BUT ALSO should have talked to the experts about how to prevent/handle the yelling of slurs when you have an audience and presenters from all races and ethnicities.
The people against whom slurs were yelled should not have to simply eat it. And the “apology” from BBC was insufficient and insincere. Then the BBC doubled down by leaving the slurs in fo the broadcast.
What a bunch of idiots running the show. Was no one with sense available to make decisions? Or did all of them think the slurs were a non-issue?
I am so hurt for Jordan, Lindo and Bleacher. I hope they receive tons of love and support today.
I personally have no patience for the discourse that is trying to give him “compassion”. If you have a disease that compels you to yell out hate speech then yes, you need to not be in public until it’s being comprehensively treated.
Campaigning for visibility and presence of the disabled should never include excusing slurs. He needs either a different course of treatment or to stay home, and I don’t feel guilty saying this. And it being aired also says a lot.
Racism is racism whether you have a “doctor’s excuse” for it or not.
💯this ☝️.
I have a relative who has Tourette’s and he will say the most offensive things in high-pressure situations, like sexist insults, and no he doesn’t mean it. It is BECAUSE he would never, ever say this that his brain forces him to. It truly has nothing to do with his own beliefs. People don’t ever believe it. Socially, It’s an absolutely devastating disability. I don’t disagree that the organizers should have handled it differently, but I imagine Mr. Davidson is horrified and will surely apologize at least in private.
People need to grasp that belief and intent don’t lessen actions. “He didn’t mean it!” Maybe I don’t care and neither did the two men who were on the end of this humiliation.
At a certain point this type of explanation just is insufficient. The rest of the world is entitled to live in spaces without this kind of crap. His apology should be public (the way his actions were) and in all caps. It says everything that there is no accountability.
Most of us with OCD struggle with intrusive thoughts, as I definitely have. I can understand the thought but that does not mean this occurrence and the response to it is acceptable.
Im sorry for anyone with that condition. But like a poster said above–you don’t get a doctor’s note that excuses you from racism. Or more specifically, you don’t get a doctor’s note that prevents other people from feeling the effects of whatever it is you shout.
His condition was a known reality that should have been accounted for. If that man can’t be in a room without shouting hurtful things at people, then quite frankly, he shouldn’t be in a room with people he can hurt. he could have participated from a green room.
Other people cannot be considered collateral damage for any one person’s condition. It’s so telling that no one at the BBC or at BAFTA involved with this production considered the effect of this mans outbursts on the people who had to hear them. I have zero confidence in the British establishment’s ability to consider any point of view other than the point of view of wealthy white upper class people. In the UK, the upper class white people are the only people worthy of having a point of view worth considering at all, it seems.
What a poor and racist way to prepare and address this unfortunate situation! BBC and BAFTA are 100% at fault. I bet they would’ve edited out the comment if Davidson shouted ‘Pedophile’ when William was on stage. I am shocked that they invited him to the event with so little care for him, the presenters and the audience. With this type of Tourette’s, coprolalia, the n-word is somewhat common, I’ve heard of other instances where it has been used by sufferers. This and other racial epithets should have been anticipated and maybe he could’ve been ushered to a safe space. It should’ve been discussed wi the him beforehand how to proceed. BAFTA should’ve reacted immediately with a more sincere apology to the audience and presenters. Now Davidson has been put in a position to receive negativity and even threats – what the film about him was trying to convey – because BAFTA showed so little forethought and care. And Alan Cumming could’ve easily been a target-I wonder if he would’ve been so casual in his apology if that had happened. What a shitshow.