A bizarre controversy is unfolding in the wake of the British equivalent of the Oscars after an attendee with Tourette syndrome was heard shouting a racial slur and other profanities from the audience during the awards show.
The British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) were presented Sunday evening at London’s Royal Festival Hall with both Hollywood royalty and actual royalty (hi, Prince William and Princess Catherine) in attendance, but it was another guest who has made the lion’s share of headlines.
On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Andrew Klavan, host of The Andrew Klavan Show, to discuss the shocking incident and the controversy that has followed.
The Incident
The film I Swear was nominated for six BAFTA awards this year and took home two prizes, including a lead actor award for Robert Aramayo, who plays John Davidson. The role was inspired by real-life activist John Davidson, and the film chronicles his experience with Tourette syndrome – a neurodevelopmental disorder that can lead to vocal tics, including inappropriate language.
Davidson was a guest at the awards ceremony and could be heard shouting a racial slur, profanities, and other insults during the televised version of the show, which began airing two hours after the event concluded as is its custom.
While Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, who are both black, were presenting the award for visual effects, Davidson yelled out the n-word. The actors did not respond in the moment. According to Variety, Davidson also shouted other insults and swear words before voluntarily leaving the show partway through.
The evening’s host, actor Alan Cumming, addressed the outbursts multiple times onstage. “You may have heard some strong and offensive language tonight,” he said at one point, attributing the shouting to Davidson’s condition. “We apologize if you were offended,” he added.
Following the show, Davidson, who first started experiencing tics at age 12, released a statement saying he was “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning.” He also thanked “everyone involved in the awards last night for their support and understanding and inviting me to attend the broadcast.”
The Fallout
Because the BAFTAs operate on a tape delay, many were shocked the BBC did not edit the audible slur from its initial broadcast in the U.K. or U.S. or from the archival version available in the U.K. until Monday.
BAFTA, meanwhile, released a lengthy written apology confirming Davidson was behind the remarks. “One of our guests, John Davidson MBE, has Tourette syndrome and has devoted his life to educating and campaigning for better understanding of this condition,” the statement read, in part. “Tourette syndrome causes involuntary verbal tics, that the individual has no control over. Such tics are in no way a reflection of an individual’s beliefs and are not intentional.”
But that has not quieted the controversy. The Guardian reported that Jamie Foxx commented on a social media post about the incident, “Unacceptable” and “Nah he meant that shit,” while Jemele Hill questioned whether “black people are just supposed to be ok with being disrespected and dehumanized so that other people don’t feel bad.”
Actor Wendell Pierce was similarly outraged. “It’s infuriating that the first reaction wasn’t complete and full [throated] apologies to Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan,” he wrote. “The insult to them takes priority. It doesn’t matter the reasoning for the racist slur.”
Blame BAFTA
Megyn and Klavan agreed that the outrage was misplaced and largely stems from a lack of understanding about Tourette syndrome. “It’s very sad… Tourette’s has the effect of looking like these people can’t keep their thoughts to themselves, that this is what they are really thinking,” Klavan explained. “The thing is, it’s not true… It is a tic.”
He said Jordan and Lindo handled the situation with grace. “The actors chose to ignore it. It clearly shocked them. You could see it in their eyes, but they chose to ignore it,” Klavan noted. “I thought they did the right thing, and then they sort of had to apologize for doing the right thing because why didn’t they stand up against this terrible, terrible word, which has been turned into sort of the worst word in the world.”
Megyn acknowledged that everyone who was interrupted by Davidson was put “in a very difficult position,” but she said scolding him or having some other kind of outsized reaction, as Hill and others suggested, would not have been the answer.
She said the organization should have been more prepared: “Had I been running [the BAFTAs], I would have said, ‘We’d love to have you. Given the nature of what you’re struggling with – which we’re clearly aware of, as we showed in this film that we’ve nominated – what do you think of standing backstage where none of the outbursts will be recorded and disrupt the future king and queen and the actors and you can meet people?'”
Ultimately, Megyn believes BAFTA has no one to blame but itself. “It is an unfortunate situation. It is a shocking thing to see happen,” she concluded. “But the absurdity of the BAFTA folks putting everyone in this position – from poor John Davidson to the actors who had to present to the prince and princess sitting there – was an utter fail.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Klavan by tuning in to episode 1,259 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.