BBC orders probe into ‘serious mistake’ over Bafta racial slur

The BBC has ordered a fast-tracked probe after a racist slur was aired during the Baftas. Photo / Getty Images

The head of the BBC has ordered a “fast-tracked” internal investigation into the “serious mistake” that saw a racist slur aired during the Bafta awards.

Tourette’s sufferer John Davidson, who inspired one of the winning films, has said he is “deeply mortified” after shouting the N-word at the London film and television awards ceremony, which he said was caused by an “involuntary tic”.

He was heard shouting as Sinners actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan, who are both black, presented an award for special visual effects in the movies at the ceremony.

The investigation will probe why the slur was aired despite there being a two-hour delay between filming and the broadcast and why it remained on the BBC’s streaming service iPlayer until the following morning.

“The BBC has been reviewing what happened at Bafta on Sunday evening,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

“This was a serious mistake and the Director-General (Tim Davie) has instructed the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to complete a fast-tracked investigation and provide a full response to complainants,” it added.

The probe was welcomed by the UK’s Culture Minister Lisa Nandy, who described the broadcasting of a racial slur as “completely unacceptable and harmful”.

“The BBC must ensure that this never happens again,” she said.

The controversy comes after another damaging episode during the BBC’s Glastonbury festival coverage in June 2025.

Staff failed to pull a livestream of a performance by Bob Vylan after the punk-rap duo’s frontman led the crowds in an anti-Israel chant.

The BBC later apologised and said it would no longer live-broadcast musical performances it deemed to be “high risk”.

Concerns

According to the UK’s domestic PA news agency, film studio Warner Bros was believed to have raised immediate concerns about the racial slur at the Baftas and requested it be removed from the broadcast.

But it could still be heard when it aired two hours later.

Tourette’s campaigner Davidson said he believed the BBC should have “worked harder” to ensure his offensive words were not broadcast.

“I have made four documentaries with the BBC in the past and feel that they should have been aware of what to expect from Tourette’s, and worked harder to prevent anything that I said ... from being included in the broadcast,” he told US trade magazine Variety.

The Bafta broadcast is the latest scandal to hit the BBC.

Davie is due to leave his post in April after he resigned in November over the editing of a documentary about US President Donald Trump.

Trump has filed a US$10 billion ($16 billion) defamation lawsuit against the BBC over the edit for its flagship current affairs programme Panorama.

Trump alleges the editing of his January 6, 2021, speech made it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

- Agence France-Presse