Google has apologised after sending out a push notification that many people said was ‘offensive’, following the BAFTAs incident involving a racial slur that drew widespread attention.
The alert linked to a The Hollywood Reporter story about the fallout from the BAFTAs moment, during which Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson shouted a slur while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.
In the notification text, readers were prompted to “see more on” — followed by the N-word.
The message sparked an immediate backlash online. One Instagram user called it ‘absolutely f****d’.
“What an interesting Black History month this has turned out to be.”
Google has since removed the notification and issued an apology.
A company spokesperson told Deadline: “We’re very sorry for this mistake. We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again.”
Although there were reports suggesting the wording had been generated by AI, Google told Deadline that wasn’t the case.
Instead, the company said its systems picked up on a euphemism used across multiple webpages and mistakenly substituted it with the offensive term in the notification.
“This system error did not involve AI. Our safety filters did not properly trigger, which is what caused this,” Google added in a statement.
The issue stems from the BAFTAs ceremony, when Jordan and Lindo were presenting an award and Davidson’s outburst was captured on camera. He was also heard using further strong language at other points in the broadcast.
Host Alan Cumming addressed the incident during the live show with an on-stage apology.
The presenter said: “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.
“Thanks for your understanding and helping create a respectful space for everyone.
“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.”
Afterwards, Davidson also commented on what happened, saying he was ‘deeply mortified’ by his Tourette’s-related tics during the ceremony.
As per Deadline, the activist stated he felt ‘deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning’.