{"id":488223,"date":"2026-02-24T20:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488223\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:12:09","slug":"bafta-jury-member-quits-over-handling-of-tourettes-tic-at-film-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488223\/","title":{"rendered":"BAFTA Jury Member Quits Over Handling of Tourette’s Tic at Film Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe BAFTA<\/a> controversy has entered its third day.<\/p>\n

\n\tFilmmaker and independent producer Jonte Richardson said on social media that he is stepping down as a BAFTA jury member over the British Academy\u2019s handling of the racial slur shouted as Sinners duo Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for best visual effects.<\/p>\n

\n\tTourette\u2019s campaigner and executive producer on the BAFTA-nominated I Swear John Davidson was introduced to the audience at Sunday\u2019s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony<\/a>, and the crowd warned over his Tourette syndrome, a condition characterized by sudden, involuntary and repetitive movements or sounds, called \u201ctics.\u201d Davidson \u2014\u00a0whose life inspired I Swear, for which Robert Aramayo won the best actor BAFTA \u2014 later said<\/a> he was \u201cdeeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC apologized for failing to cut the slur from the final broadcast, aired on a two-hour delay on the British broadcaster. BAFTA has also taken some heat for its bungling of the situation, and apologized \u201cunreservedly\u201d to Jordan and Lindo<\/a> while defending Davidson\u2019s right to be at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Tuesday afternoon, The Hollywood Reporter received confirmation that executives at Sinners studio Warner Bros. raised immediate concerns with BAFTA about the tic, and asked the slur to be removed from the BBC broadcast. It is understood the studio was given assurances that this message would be passed on to the BBC and producer Penny Lane TV swiftly. A meeting between BAFTA and Warner Bros. executives took place on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tTHR looked at how the night unfolded in detail here<\/a>, and later spoke to those with Tourette\u2019s Syndrome<\/a> to weigh in on the significance of the moment.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement on Facebook Monday night, jury member Richardson said that the \u201chandling of the unfortunate Tourettes\u2019 N-word incident\u201d was \u201cutterly unforgivable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI cannot and will not contribute my time, energy and expertise to an organization that has repeatedly failed to safeguard the dignity of its Black guests, members and the Black creative community,\u201d said Richardson. \u201cThis is particularly unfortunate given that this year\u2019s cohort boasts some incredible Black talent, especially one of my favorite shows of 2025, Just Act Normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHowever, when an organisation like BAFTA, with its own long history of systemic racism, refuses to acknowledge the harm inflicted on both the black and disabled communities and offer an appropriate apology, remaining involved would be tantamount to condoning its behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that he hopes BAFTA leadership \u201ccomprehend the damage they and the BBC have caused, and take the necessary steps to ensure their production staff is inclusive enough to prevent such an issue in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHost Alan Cumming interrupted his monologues several times across the Sunday show to remind viewers: \u201cTourette\u2019s syndrome is a disability and the tics you\u2019ve heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette\u2019s Syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you are offended tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs part of their full statement on the matter, BAFTA said: \u201cWe take the duty of care to\u00a0all\u00a0our\u00a0guests very seriously and start from a position of inclusion.\u00a0We took measures to make those in attendance aware of the tics,\u00a0announcing\u00a0to the\u00a0audience\u00a0before the\u00a0ceremony began,\u00a0and throughout,\u00a0that John was in the room and\u00a0that\u00a0they may hear strong language, involuntary\u00a0noises\u00a0or movements during the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their\u00a0incredible dignity and professionalism,\u201d said BAFTA, who added that Davidson chose to leave the auditorium and watch the rest of the ceremony from a screen. \u201cWe would like to thank [Davidson] for his dignity and consideration of others, on what should have been a night of celebration for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe British Academy added that it takes \u201cfull responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation.\u201d The apology in full can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BAFTA controversy has entered its third day. Filmmaker and independent producer Jonte Richardson said on social media…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[27514,223068,205079,88,2091,1049],"class_list":["post-488223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bafta","tag-bafta-2026","tag-bafta-film-awards","tag-entertainment","tag-international","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488223","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=488223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}