The BBC’s director general has set out how a shocking moment involving Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo — in which a racial slur was heard — ended up being shown to viewers worldwide.
The incident occurred during the BAFTAs when disability campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette’s syndrome, shouted an involuntary slur while the Sinners stars were on stage presenting an award. Many watching were stunned that the language was not bleeped during the live broadcast.
The situation was compounded by the fact that the programme remained available on BBC iPlayer after the February 22 ceremony, only being removed the following day.
As the moment sparked wider discussion about disability, live broadcasting, and the harm racial slurs cause, it has since emerged that this was not the only slur heard during the ceremony — and that another was directed at a different member of the Sinners cast.
It was later reported that the N-word was also shouted at actor Wunmi Mosaku during her acceptance speech for best supporting actress. In that case, the production team were able to remove the slur before the show was broadcast.
Responding in a detailed statement, BBC Director General Tim Davie said: “I’d like to make clear: although the racial slur was symptomatic of a disability and an involuntary tic, it should never have been broadcast. It was a genuine mistake, and we take full responsibility for our error.
“Although this is the subject of ongoing review, our initial evidence gathering has found that no one in the on-site broadcast truck heard this when they were watching the live feed.
“Because no one in the broadcast truck was aware it was on the live feed, there was therefore no editorial decision made to leave the language in.”
Davie also explained what the BBC believes happened regarding the incident involving Mosaku, saying: “In that instance, the edit team did hear the racial slur on the feed and removed it immediately from the version of the ceremony that would be broadcast later that evening.
“These two incidents happened within 10 minutes of each other. It appears that soon after the second incident, the edit team in the truck started receiving reports, including from Bafta, that a racial slur had been shouted during the ceremony.
“Our understanding at this point is that the team editing the show in the truck mistakenly believed they had edited out the incident that was being referenced, on the basis that they had heard and edited out the slur shouted out during the best supporting actress award.”