On the eve of the BAFTA TV Awards, Alan Cumming has blamed “bad people who weren’t doing their jobs properly” for the film awards debacle that he oversaw as host. Cumming was presenting the BAFTA Film Awards in February when tourette’s campaigner John Davidson yelled an involuntary racial slur at the stars of Sinners. He […]

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC’s biggest test since the BAFTA Film Awards has almost arrived. Sunday night’s BAFTA TV Awards come less than three months after the debacle at its sister event, when tourette’s campaigner John Davidson involuntarily yelled the N-word at the stars of Sinners and the BBC failed to cut the slur. The fiasco played […]

BAFTA has apologized “unreservedly” to the Black and disabled communities over the N-word debacle, having identified “a number of structural weaknesses” in its “planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements” before this year’s awards. At last month’s BAFTA Film Awards, the N-word was yelled unintentionally by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson at Sinners stars Delroy Lindo…

The BBC has ruled that the BAFTA N-word broadcast breached its editorial standards but in a way that was “unintentional.” The broadcaster’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) had been examining the SNAFU over the past few weeks. At last month’s BAFTA Film Awards, the N-word was yelled unintentionally by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson at Sinners stars […]

The BBC Director General has for the first time set out in detail the corporation’s version of events that led to the BAFTA broadcast debacle, while his content chief has told staff “the incident has caused much upset and hurt” internally. Tim Davie has in the past hour sent a letter to the UK’s Culture, […]

Cumming originally apologized for attendee John Davidson, who has Tourette's, shouting the slur toward Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo during the ceremony.

EXCLUSIVE: Saturday Night Live‘s send-up of the BAFTA racial slur incident has proved to be no laughing matter for a leading Tourette’s syndrome charity. In a statement shared with Deadline, Tourettes Action, which has supported campaigner John Davidson and the film I Swear since its release last year, decried SNL’s intervention. In the PSA-style skit […]

The actor was on stage with his "Sinners" costar Michael B. Jordan last week when Tourette syndrome advocate John Davidson shouted the N-word from the audience.

We’re coming to the end of another whirlwind week in international film and TV, Insiders, and that’s not just because Paramount has won the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery. Jesse Whittock leading you through. Sign up to the newsletter here. BAFTA Fallout A shocking week: It was supposed to be celebratory, but turned into a […]

EXCLUSIVE: The chair of the BBC attended the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday night. Samir Shah was in the auditorium at the Royal Festival Hall but played no part in preventing John Davidson’s involuntary N-word interruption from being broadcast on BBC One, Deadline can reveal. The BBC has been heavily criticized for failing to edit […]

The BBC is now coming under political attack for broadcasting an involuntary racial slur during the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday. Three days after the awards ceremony, UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy has waded in. The minister said she had raised “serious concerns” with BBC boss Tim Davie. In a statement, Nandy said: “I share […]

Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson has said the BBC could have done more to stop his involuntary racial slur about the stars of Sinners from airing on national television. In an interview with Variety, Davidson — whose dedication to helping those with Tourette syndrome was the subject of biopic I Swear — said the broadcast of […]

Tourette syndrome advocate John Davidson also wondered whether it was "wise" for the BAFTAs to place a microphone in front of him, "knowing I would tic."

Google has apologized after an AI-generated news alert about the BAFTA Film Awards racial slur incident included the N-word. The tech giant pushed out a notification linking to a The Hollywood Reporter article, which had the headline: “How the Tourette’s Fallout Unfolded at the BAFTA Film Awards.” The alert then invited readers to “see more […]

“I want to use this outlet to say that I hope Madonna can watch the film,” Lakshmipriya Devi, the filmmaker behind the Manipuri-language title Boong, explains earnestly during a short interview with Deadline after Sunday night’s BAFTA Film Awards. “I did write to her on Instagram when we were selected for Toronto, but obviously, she […]

The incident had previously been addressed on stage by host Alan Cumming.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. raised immediate concerns about the involuntary racial slur directed at the stars of Sinners during the BAFTA Film Awards, requesting that the incident be removed from the BBC broadcast, Deadline can reveal. A well-placed source told Deadline that Warner Bros. executives made a complaint to BAFTA within minutes of Tourette’s campaigner John […]

The fallout from the BAFTA racial slur saga has extended into a third day with a producer stepping down from one of its juries. Jonte Richardson, an independent producer who has worked on the BET Awards, posted on social media that the awards body’s “handling of the unfortunate Tourette’s N-Word incident” was “utterly unforgivable.” He […]

Can we please talk? There’s an ongoing outcry over John Davidson, the Tourette syndrome campaigner portrayed with empathy by double BAFTA recipient Robert Aramayo in the movie I Swear, and his unfortunate, involuntary eruption of the most offensive racial slur when Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were performing presenting duties during Sunday’s ceremony in London. […]

Tourette Syndrome campaigner John Davidson has issued a statement after his racial slur at the BAFTA Film Awards dominated the aftermath of the ceremony. Read the statement in full below. In a statement released this afternoon, Davidson said he was “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any […]

BAFTA has released its first statement this afternoon addressing last night’s incident, where a racial slur was used when Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage. Read the statement in full below. “We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation, and we apologise to all,” BAFTA said in a […]

In the build-up to the BAFTA Film Awards, Deadline revealed how the BBC was desperate to avoid repeating the Glastonbury Festival meltdown that followed Bob Vylan’s “death to the IDF” chant. A few days on, and the British national broadcaster finds itself firefighting an issue that has echoes of events on Worthy Farm. On a […]

The BBC has apologized and removed from iPlayer the BAFTA Film Awards after initially failing to cut a racial slur involuntarily shouted by an audience member with Tourette syndrome. During the event, Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson, who is the subject of biopic I Swear, shouted involuntary remarks from the audience. At one point, he said […]

The BBC has apologized after its coverage of the BAFTA Film Awards failed to cut a racial slur shouted by an audience member with Tourette syndrome. The BBC said it was sorry for the “strong and offensive language” featured during the ceremony, which was pre-recorded on a two-hour delay before broadcasting on BBC One. During […]

Sinners production designer Hannah Beachler has criticized Alan Cumming’s on-stage apology after the N-word was shouted by a Tourette’s campaigner during the BAFTA Film Awards. Cumming briefly paused the ceremony twice to acknowledge the involuntary shouting from Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson, who is the subject of biopic I Swear. Davidson was sat in the audience […]

My Father’s Shadow filmmakers Wale Davies and Akinola Davies Jr. won the BAFTA Film Award for outstanding British debut on Sunday, but the BBC cut a section of their acceptance speech. Davies Jr.’s closed his winner’s remarks by dedicating the Outstanding Debut for a British Writer, Director or Producer award to “all those whose parents […]

John Davidson, who lives with Tourette's and is the subject of Outstanding British Film nominee "I Swear," could be heard shouting slurs and curses.

"I didn't expect that," Coogler admitted after stepping up the podium to accept his award.

Prince William paid tribute to NBCUniversal chair Donna Langley as he awarded her BAFTA’s highest honor, the BAFTA Fellowship during the film awards on Sunday night, calling the British-born studio head a “shining light.” “The path to fellowship is an honor given in recognition of an exceptional contribution to film,” he told the audience, which […]

After “One Battle After Another” claimed the BAFTA for best film on Sunday night, director Paul Thomas Anderson had a simple message for critics of modern cinema. “Anybody that says movies aren’t any good anymore should piss right off,” Anderson, who both wrote and directed the action thriller, said to cheers and laughter. “I want […]