Deon Cole has faced backlash after joking about Tourette’s in reference to a widely shared incident at the BAFTAs.
The BAFTAs were held on February 22, with stars including Sean Penn, Jessie Buckley, and Robert Aramayo among those who received awards.
However, much of the online conversation afterward focused less on the winners and more on an awkward moment during the ceremony, when Tourette’s syndrome activist John Davidson shouted the N-word as Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.
Tourette’s can involve involuntary tics, including vocal tics. In the wake of the BAFTAs incident, charity Tourette’s Action said what someone says during a tic is “not a reflection of a person’s beliefs, intentions or character”.
Despite Tourette’s being recognised as a disability, Cole — while hosting Saturday’s NAACP Image Awards — made comments referencing Davidson and the BAFTAs moment.
During a spoof prayer delivered to the audience, he said: “If there are any white men in the room with Tourette’s, I advise you to tell them to read the room, Lord. It might not go the way they thinketh.”
He then added: “Whatever medicine they on, they better double up on it, Lord.”
His remarks triggered criticism online, with people pointing out that Tourette’s tics are not something an individual can simply control.
“Making fun of people with disabilities is not funny and he did not have to say it in a racist way either, this is very shameful,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Mocking a disability, Bravo,” another posted, adding: “This from a community that have been mistreated; oppressed and have had to fight for equality …. This isn’t the flex you think it is and is arming those who oppose to equality.”
A third said: “The joke about the ‘white man with Tourette’s reading the room’ is in poor taste. Empathy is not strong or even present.”
Host Deon Cole opens the #NAACPImageAwards with a prayer. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/RJTMTYKIvo
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 1, 2026
Others defended people living with Tourette’s, stressing that the condition isn’t something they can switch off.
One person wrote: “I’m 100% sure that any ‘white men with Tourette’ would rather NOT have a disability that already makes living their life hell if they had the choice.
“If there was any possibility at all that they could ‘read the room’ and just decide NOT to have Tourette’s, they would.”
Meanwhile, at the NAACP Image Awards, Delroy Lindo also addressed the BAFTAs incident directly.
He said: “I’d just like to officially say, I appreciate, we appreciate all the support and love we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend. It means a lot to us.”