BBC and Tourette’s advocate apologise to Sinners stars for racial slur during Baftas

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Associated PressFebruary 23, 2026 at 08:48 PM

AI Summary

short article 1 min

During the British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) on Sunday, a racial slur was shouted while actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, both Black, were presenting an award. The slur came from John Davidson, a Tourette's advocate who inspired the Bafta-nominated film *I Swear*, who was present at the ceremony. Davidson and the BBC have both issued apologies, with Davidson stating he was "deeply mortified" and that the slur was involuntary due to his Tourette's syndrome. Bafta also apologized for the offensive language, acknowledging the pain it caused. Tourettes Action, a related charity, emphasized that tics are involuntary and do not reflect a person's beliefs.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Alan Cumming 40% Emma McNally 40% British Academy of Film and Television Arts 60% Tourettes Action 60% Delroy Lindo ×270% Michael B Jordan ×270% British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) ×280% John Davidson ×390%

Keywords

racial slur 100% tourette's syndrome 90% baftas 80% apology 70% involuntary tics 60% british academy film awards 50% offensive language 50% john davidson 40% sinners 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Neutral

Score: -0.10

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Political Lean

Center-Right (0.50)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

racial slur tourette's syndrome baftas apology involuntary tics british academy film awards offensive language john davidson sinners

Explore Full Topic Graph