At the BAFTAs two Sundays ago, Alan Cumming served as host/MC. Cumming came in for criticism of how he handled the fiasco in real time, during the actual show. Shortly after John Davidson, a man with Tourette’s, loudly ticced the n-word at Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, Cumming came out on stage and reminded the audience that a guest has Tourette’s and people needed to have compassion and understanding for him alone. Cumming also apologized “IF people are offended.” Since the BAFTAs, Cumming escaped a lot of the criticism because everyone was so focused on BAFTA and the BBC’s many f–kups. Cumming didn’t even issue his own public apology… until now. On Monday, he posted a statement on his Instagram:
Alan Cumming has issued an apology after hosting the Feb. 22 BAFTA Film Awards, during which John Davidson, who has Tourette’s syndrome, yelled the n-word while Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were onstage.
“It’s now a week since I hosted the BAFTAs. What should have been an evening celebrating creativity as well as diversity and inclusion turned into a trauma triggering s—show,” he said.
“I’m so sorry for all the pain Black people have felt at hearing that word echoed round the world. I’m so sorry the Tourettes community has been reminded of the lack of understanding and tolerance that abounds regarding their condition.”
He continued: “The only possible good that could come of this is a reminder that words matter, that rushing to judgment about things of which we are not fully cognisant is folly, that all trauma must be recognised and honoured.”
Cumming concluded his statement by alluding to the mistakes made by BAFTA and the BBC.
“We were all let down by decisions made to both broadcast slurs and censor free speech,” he wrote. “Congratulations to all the artists whose work was overshadowed by the night’s events.”
I can easily nitpick Cumming’s statement, especially “I’m so sorry for all the pain Black people have felt at hearing that word echoed round the world…” Once again, centering the argument on why the BBC didn’t edit out the slur rather than the fact that the racist slur was shouted in the first place and why NO ONE from Bafta even spoke to Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan and Hannah Beachler during or after the show. No one showed them any care or concern. There’s still a lack of care in how these people keep centering the argument on “well the BBC should have edited it out.” Still, at least Cumming is capable of writing the words “I’m sorry” and acknowledging the impact of the slurs. It literally took him a week.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, screencap courtesy of ABC.
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- 79th British Academy Film Awards, at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre Featuring: Alan Cumming Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 Feb 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- 79th British Academy Film Awards, at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre Featuring: Alan Cumming Where: London, United Kingdom When: 22 Feb 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
POC, but especially Black people, PLEASE boycott this sh**show for at least a decade. Let it be an all White room. It’s really what they want (and deserve). Don’t grace them with your presence. If you are nominated record your acceptance speech. DO NOT BE IN THAT ROOM.
It’s time to take a collective stance against this bullshit.
Say it again! Louder for the cheap seats in the back. BAFTA’s “apology” was such bs. And the way that the social media sphere has responded is just a reminder of where we are in terms of race. The inability of people to even acknowledge when something bad happens to Black people, is mind boggling.
Cummings’ apology is the first one that I have read that names Black people specifically. Everyone else has been using all kinds of word salads to avoid saying, Black people or racism. GTFOH
Thank you WTF! I am so tired of this sh**!!! We need to take back our power. Like I have really really had it with this bullish**.
Interesting how these apologies came AFTER the reception and applause the Sinners cast has received at the NAACP awards and SAG. It makes them all look insensitive and out of touch.
Exactly this!!! Why else would the apology come now when there was a whole week to do so?
As usual, the BBC handled this really badly. John (tourette’s sufferer) was there as a film about his life and the presentation of his tics has been made. There was a high probability that in this environment, he would tic. His tics are (as they often are) the most offensive intrusive thought he consciously doesn’t want to say. (he swore at the Queen when knighted, etc) Quite why it wasn’t edited out and why the whole thing has descended into a fiasco I don’t know. Harmful to all. Apparently the audience had a quiet warning about John’s tics, so if anyone there wasn’t understanding….
Ultimately, everyone lost there.
Exactly this. It is absolutely on BAFTA for not planning ahead of time what would be the response if (more likely ‘when’) something like this happened. Risk? High. Impact? Med-High depending on what it might be. Mitigation of negative impact(s)? Possible to an extent (explain clearly to audience, for example). Response if mitigation doesn’t work? ….(tumbleweed)……
The BBC are pathetic for their excuse of ‘oops, we didn’t hear it’, while editing out ‘Free Palestine’ from an acceptance speech. You’ve got people watching in real time, surely, and it’s a delayed broadcast. A big a moment as that, that had a response from the audience, stars on stage, and Alan Cummings, you’d go back and triple check that sh$t.
Alan basically All Lives Mattered it. He has been a disappointment throughout this shameful ordeal. Black people only have ourselves as allies.
He could have done so much better! As host could have apologized to Lindo & MBJ that they had to experience a dehumanizing slur even if its utterance was uncontrollable. I think less of him now.
Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenters at an awards show honouring their film so why wasn’t basic decency shown for their wellbeing the minute they came off stage? Who invites guests and then doesn’t step in when they are publicly insulted by another guest and sort it out there and then?
Meanwhile the BAFTA president remains silent
That speaks volumes, doesn’t it. I wouldn’t expect anything different from him, though.
First you say he ticced, then you say this – “ rather than the fact that the racist slur was shouted in the first place”. The slur was a tic, not a conscience act of racism. Outside of completely removing himself from social situations, which is not very inlcusive, what do you suggest John do? He could have apologized more quickly, but he’s honestly probably really tired of apologizing for his disability.
I get the hurt, I truly do. Words matter, but so does intent.
The (non)reaction by BAFTA and the BBC were the problem. The location of the microphone was the problem.
@Drea…pardon me…but he said racial slurs publicized AROUND THE WORLD!
So…………….. THIS AIN’T THAT regarding him possibly being TIRED OF APOLOGIZING FOR HIS TOURETTE’S…Y’all REALLY ain’t helping that man with Y’all takes 😠
And WHY was it heard around the world? The two-hour delay was enough time for BAFTA and the BBC to block this ish. And the microphone should have never been near him. The whole thing feels like a setup to cause discord, frankly.
Don’t @ me with this.
Some nuance, posted in another comment section. An interview with a black disability advocate.
https://slate.com/culture/2026/02/bafta-john-davidson-tourettes-michael-b-jordan-delroy-lindo-n-word.html
As someone close to people with special needs involving involuntary meltdowns. I say inclusion is important, but inclusion doesn’t mean treating disruptive people as if they are completely normal and ignoring their outbursts. That’s denial.
Inclusion involves “reasonable accomodations”. I’m not sure if there was a unmicced balcony box they could have granted him, stocked with people aware of his condition and supportive. Or a private VIP room with a nice spread. That would have been best for everyone. Even if the first wasn’t an option, I know this one was.
What they did was horrible for everyone. Including him. He will probably suffer, emotionally and reputation wise, for some time.
But it is important to acknowledge it was horrible for the presenters as well. Imagine showing up for what should be one of the best days of your life only to be bombarded with hate speech. Yes, they were warned, but Jesus.
Seating him in near a mic seems to me like a stunt for ratings. To be fair, they probably didn’t think he would say anything racist, but they likely knew he would say things that were offensive, so it seems very cruel to me to put him on the spot like that.
Let’s see how much inclusion Bafta President William practices for the next Earth shot and his coronation.
Wow. “He’s honestly probably really tired of apologizing for his disability”. To me, that says it all. I’m honestly tired of racism. No “probably” about it. I’m honestly tired of racism and its impacts being minimized — especially by people who haven’t been on the receiving end of generations of systemic racism, and even more so when the minimizing is done by people who hope for grace from and for others that they happen to care about and value more than they appear to value people who have long been on the receiving end of racist behavior and policies.
Where we are now is having people who are openly against racism being pitted against people who want and advocate for inclusion and acceptance for those with disabilities— as though there aren’t people in both groups who deserve both protection and support.
I still have my original question: Why didn’t Davidson or his representatives make a decent apology as soon as it was possible to do so? He’s not being asked to apologize for his disability— he’s being asked to apologize for the searingly painful, historically-laden impact that his involuntary words have had on other people. He’s stated that he understands the impact of his words, and he has apologized in the past. What is it about this — now international incident — that’s different?
I mean, I think a lot of focus should be on the BBC’s decision not to edit it out. It exposes systemic racism on a massive level and it means the BBC chose to victimize everyone black viewer. It took a hurtful ugly incident and made it an act of international harm.
Not the only focus. But it’s a huge deal and people need to keep pressure and shame on BBC and the BAFTAs.
The discord would have been minimized if Davidson had come out with a viable apology…because the apology he gave was 🤬 and didn’t address the people who were offended…AGAIN…HE GAVE AN APOLOGY SO HE WASN’T TOO TIRED TO GIVE AN APOLOGY…JUST TOO TIRED TO APOLOGIZE DIRECTLY TO THE BLACK PEOPLE HE OFFENDED WITH THAT SLUR IN THIS CURRENT RAMPANT HORRIFIC WORLD WIDE WHITE SUPREMACY ENVIRONMENT 😠
But…HEY whatever once again the internet reminds me of why the 🌎 is 🤬
I think the Guardian article provides a little more context as to why Cummings’ apology was such a broad one.
It stated: During the ceremony, Davidson shouted “paedo” after Cumming’s joke about his sexuality, yelled “shut the fuck up” during an address by Bafta chair Sara Putt, and was heard to say the N-word as Sinners actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo took to the stage. Later in the ceremony, Cumming apologised for offence caused and thanked the audience for their understanding. While some of Davidson’s tics were removed from the TV broadcast two hours later, one of the racial slurs was not, despite ample time for an edit, and other controversial moments being removed, including Akinola Davies Jr’s cry of “Free Palestine” at the end of his speech.”
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/03/baftas-host-alan-cumming-criticises-bbc-for-broadcasting-slurs
This really was a failure of the event organisers. The risk assessment of the impact of any possible words was not considered in the planning of the event, since they placed Davidson close to mics which probably amplified his tics. And then the unconscious bias of the persons working at the event and on editing the live broadcast was also problematic. This event really shines a light on how much of a problem racism and unconscious and lack of consideration for persons with medical issues is in that country. We can only extrapolate how it looks in other places.
This awards programme has never had so much publicity and they have many post mortem meetings to do before next year.
Did they remove the slurs against Cumming for the broadcast? If so that makes not removing the n word even worse.
Also is the n word considered not a big deal in the UK? Because no North American show leaves that in. They even bleep it from songs. I don’t even know if you can say it’s unconscious bias by leaving in a word that has been considered shocking for decades now. Seems conscious at the very least.
Strange how the conversation coming from the BBC, BAFTA, and Cummings has pivoted from the need for compassion for John Davidson and Tourette’s Syndrome awareness to a huge controversy regarding a lack of timely apologies regarding the un-edited n-word in the broadcast. Both People mag and NBC are now covering this, pulling more and more focus from Tourette’s awareness while placing more focus on Cummings. Hmmmm … If I were looking for a way to gain international attention, name recognition for myself, and exposure for my movie would I attempt to latch onto an A-list actor (BM favorite buzzword) who enjoys a long and successful career with multiple prestigious acting awards under his belt, and a current Academy Award/Oscar nomination for Best Actor? Nah … that would be too obvious. Even if Cummings knew his movie would be eligible for Oscar consideration in 2027, he would never instigate a controversy – steeped in racism and advanced by his own lack of consideration – just to keep it in the news to reach a much larger audience, would he?