BBC broke editorial standards by airing BAFTAs racial slur, review finds
Tourette's activist John Davidson was heard shouting the N-word while black actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage during the BAFTA awards.
The BBC broke editorial standards by including a racial slur in a pre-recorded broadcast of the BAFTA awards, a review has found.
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The corporation's executive complaints unit (ECU) said including the slur shouted out by Tourette's activist John Davidson was "highly offensive" and "had no editorial justification".
Responding to further complaints that the slur should have been edited out of the programme, which was available on iPlayer following the event, the ECU said there was "a lack of clarity among the production team as to whether the word was audible", leading to a delay lasting several hours.
This was "a serious mistake, because there could be no certainty that the word would be inaudible to all viewers", it said.
The report said: “The ECU accepted their account, for two reasons. Firstly, the use of the N-word in that instance was extremely indistinct, to the point where it might well not have been recognised by the production team.
“Secondly, there was another occurrence of the N-word about 10 minutes later, which was recognised by the production team and immediately edited out in accordance with the protocols on offensive language which were in place.
“There is no reason to conclude they would have applied the protocols in one case while deliberately ignoring them in the other. “
Read more: Baftas host Alan Cumming hits out at BBC for ‘broadcasting slurs and censoring free speech’
“There is no reason to conclude they would have applied the protocols in one case while deliberately ignoring them in the other.“
A film based on Davidson’s life, titled ‘I Swear’, won several awards during Sunday night’s show, including Brit Robert Aramayo winning leading actor for his portrayal of the activist.
Davidson was heard shouting the N-word while black actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the event.
The Sinners’ stars did not react to the involuntary tic, but the moment prompted fury online.
The BBC apologised after the slur was included in a pre-recorded broadcast of the awards ceremony.
A BBC spokesperson said at the time: “The live event is three hours and it has to be reduced to two hours for its on-air slot.
"The same happened to other speeches made during the night and all edits were made to ensure the programme was delivered to time.
“All winners' speeches will be available to watch via Bafta's YouTube channel.”
The BBC came under fire for what critics described as an "utterly unforgivable" handling of the outburst.
Chief Content Officer Kate Phillips apologised to staff following the furore.
She wrote in a note: “I wanted to write to you following Sunday’s Bafta Film Awards.
“I’m so sorry that a racial slur was not edited out of our broadcast. We understand how distressing this was. Award attendees were pre-warned about the possibility of involuntary verbal tics associated with Tourette Syndrome at the start of the show, and Alan Cumming addressed it during the broadcast. Of course, this doesn’t lessen the impact and upset."
She added that the edit team removed another racial slur from the broadcast, but claimed this one was "aired in error".
The BBC was also accused of breaching editorial standards by editing out “free Palestine” from the acceptance speech of Outstanding Debut winner Akinola Davies Jr at the ceremony in February.
Although the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) report found Mr Davies had a right to express his views, the removal of the words “did not hinge on the considerations of impartiality”.
The report said: “The principal consideration was that approximately three hours of recorded material had to be edited to fit a two-hour transmission slot.
“The priority in the editing was to focus on the main thrust of the event, namely the content being celebrated.“As is usual in coverage of events of this kind, cuts were made in some of the longer acceptance speeches, including that of Mr Davies.”
The report added: “It appeared to the ECU that the content of what was cut from Mr Davies’ speech played no part in the decision to edit it except to the extent that it was remote from the event’s main thrust and the likely focus of the audience’s interest.”