The head of the BBC on Wednesday ordered a “fast-track” internal investigation into the “serious mistake” that a racist slur was broadcast during the Bafta awards.
BBC ordered investigation
Tourette’s sufferer John Davidson, who inspired one of the winning films, has said he is “deeply mortified” after shouting the N-word at a London film and television awards ceremony, saying it was caused by an “involuntary tic”.
They were heard booing when Sinners actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan, both of whom are Black, presented awards for special visual effects in films at the ceremony.
The inquiry will investigate why the abuse was broadcast despite a two-hour delay between filming and broadcast and why it remained on the BBC’s streaming service iPlayer until the next morning.
“The BBC is reviewing what happened at the Baftas on Sunday evening,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
“This was a serious mistake and the Director General (Tim Davie) has directed the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to rapidly complete the investigation and provide a full response to complainants,” it said.
The investigation was welcomed by Culture Minister Lisa Nandy, who described the broadcast of the racial slur as “completely unacceptable and harmful”.
He said, “The BBC must ensure that this never happens again.”
BBC’s troubles in the past
The controversy follows another damaging episode during the BBC’s Glastonbury festival coverage in June 2025.
Staff failed to pull down a livestream of Bob Waylon’s performance after the punk-rap duo’s frontman led the crowd in an anti-Israel chant.
The BBC later apologized and said it would no longer broadcast live music performances deemed “high risk”.
Warner Bros. expressed concern
According to the UK’s domestic PA news agency, film studio Warner Bros is understood to have raised immediate concerns about the racial slur at Sunday’s BAFTAs and requested it be removed from the broadcast.
But it could still be heard when broadcast two hours later.
Tourette’s publicist Davidson said he believed the BBC should have “worked harder” to ensure his offensive words were not broadcast.
He told the American business magazine Variety, “I have made four documentaries with the BBC in the past and I think they should have known what to expect from Tourette, and worked hard to prevent everything I said… from being included in the broadcast.”
The BAFTA broadcast is the latest scandal to hit the BBC.
Davy is set to leave his post in April after resigning in November over editing a documentary about US President Donald Trump.
The President has filed a $10 billion defamation suit against the BBC over its editing of its flagship current affairs program “Panorama”.
Trump alleged that editing of his January 6, 2021 speech made it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.