{"id":484944,"date":"2026-02-23T03:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/484944\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T03:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T03:13:08","slug":"alan-cumming-apologizes-at-bafta-film-awards-for-tourettes-swearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/484944\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Cumming Apologizes At BAFTA Film Awards For Tourette\u2019s Swearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAlan Cumming briefly halted the BAFTA<\/a> Film Awards twice to apologize and thank the audience for their understanding amid interruptions from a nominee with Tourette\u2019s syndrome.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Traitors presenter took time to acknowledge the involuntary shouting from Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson, who is the subject of biopic I Swear<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavidson was sitting in the Royal Festival Hall audience, and his tics were picked up by microphones in the room. It was audible on the BBC television broadcast.<\/p>\n

\n\tSome of his comments caused presenters and winners to take a beat during on-stage remarks. At one point, for example, Davidson shouted \u201cboring\u201d and \u201cf**k off\u201d during opening comments from BAFTA chair Sara Putt. <\/p>\n

\n\tHe also said the N-word when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for Best Visual Effects to Avatar: Fire and Ash. The interruption was audible on television.<\/p>\n

\n\tBetween prizes, Cumming said the audience \u201cmay have noticed\u201d the \u201cstrong language.\u201d He thanked attendees for their understanding and for creating a \u201crespectful space for everyone.\u201d Later, Cumming said he was sorry if anyone was offended, stressing that the \u201ctics are involuntary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDeadline reported earlier this week that Davidson\u2019s attendance had come up in planning meetings between the BBC and producers<\/a>, Penny Lane TV.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavidson exited the auditorium at one point in the ceremony. It is not clear if he returned to his seat, but the interuptions appeared to end.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavidson is a remarkable ambassador for his disability, helping support others with Tourette\u2019s syndrome through public speaking and other activism.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2018, he was awarded an honor by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in increasing understanding of the condition. He was featured in the 1989 documentary John\u2019s Not Mad.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTourette\u2019s is such an awful condition that most of the time I don\u2019t want to be the centre of attention,\u201d he told BBC News last year. \u201cI want to be able to walk down the street and not be noticed because I\u2019m shouting or swearing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDavidson is portrayed in I Swear by Robert Aramayo, who said Davidson was the \u201cmost remarkable man I\u2019ve ever met\u201d when accepting the Rising Star prize. The film was nominated for Outstanding British Film. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alan Cumming briefly halted the BAFTA Film Awards twice to apologize and thank the audience for their understanding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[27514,205079,88,88582],"class_list":["post-484944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bafta","tag-bafta-film-awards","tag-entertainment","tag-i-swear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}