The BBC’s Own Complaints Unit Finds Inclusion of BAFTAs Slur Outburst Was ‘Highly Offensive’ but ‘Unintentional’

A new investigation from the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has weighed in on the events of February's BAFTA Film Awards.

It’s been nearly two months since the BAFTA Film Awards were upended by a series of profoundly upsetting outbursts during the February ceremony. The BBC has now issued its official findings on just what went so terribly wrong during the event’s production.

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU), led by Peter Johnston, found that “the inclusion of the n-word in the broadcast (which was also streamed live on iPlayer) was highly offensive, had no editorial justification and represented a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards, but that the breach was unintentional.” The investigation also addressed apparent editing delays and another complaint about a different editing choice in the show.

Let’s backtrack a bit. 

The February show was interrupted by early outbursts from “I Swear” subject John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome, including a racial slur directed at presenters Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo. Following the show’s live event, the incident was not edited out of the show’s official broadcast (which aired after a standard two-hour tape delay) or the version available on the BBC’s streamer, iPlayer (the show has since been removed).

During the first 30 minutes of the show, Davidson repeatedly issued loud, involuntary vocal tics that were clear to those in the audience and on clips later circulated on social media. When “Sinners” stars Jordan and Lindo took to the stage to present the award for best visual effects, one of the first awards of the evening, Davidson yelled the n-word at the stage.

In both the originally distributed broadcast and clips from the show, it is clear that the stars heard the racial slur. In the days following the incident, it was widely reported that Davidson yelled the slur at least three different times before he chose to exit the event.

The initial outburst was not edited out of the show before it went to air and was made available on the streamer. Variety reported that another moment at the event, in which “My Father’s Shadow” filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. accepted his BAFTA Film Award for outstanding British debut and ended his speech with a call to “free Palestine,” was.

In late February, BAFTA released a letter from chair Sara Putt and CEO Jane Millichip that promised a “comprehensive review” of the organization’s policies. That letter arrived after shorter apologetic statements from BAFTA and Davidson, along with an earlier apology from the BBC.

Per the BBC, their investigation hinged on “a large number of complaints” received following the ceremony, and was focused to address the following points:

1. that the programme broadcast on the evening of 22 February included a use of an extremely offensive racial slur (the n-word);
2. that, as the programme was broadcast with a time delay which would have allowed the word to be edited out, its presence must have been the result of a deliberate decision which was indefensible;
3. that the word should have been edited out of the iPlayer version of the programme, but remained until the programme was taken down the following morning;
4. that the decision to edit out remarks in the acceptance speech of Akinola Davies Jr which included the words “free Palestine” was also objectionable, particularly in the light of the decision to retain the n-word.

The investigatory unit found that “on the first two points, … the inclusion of the n-word in the broadcast (which was also streamed live on iPlayer) was highly offensive, had no editorial justification and represented a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards, but that the breach was unintentional.”

As for the third point, “the ECU also finds that there was a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards. … There was a lack of clarity among the team as to whether the n-word was audible on the recording. This resulted in there being a delay before a decision was taken to remove the recording from iPlayer; that decision was not taken until approximately 9.30 the following morning. In the ECU’s view, this delay was a serious mistake.”

For the fourth point, “many complaints characterised the excision of part of Akinola Davies Jr’s acceptance speech as an instance of censorship improperly. … The ECU found, however, that the production team’s decision did not hinge on considerations of impartiality. The principal consideration was that approximately three hours of recorded material had to be edited to fit a two-hour transmission slot. … 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.”

As for where this all goes, the report also shared that the network is pursuing the following three changes:

“Pre-event assessment of potential on-air risks, mitigations and escalations is being strengthened through final gate processes across all major live Network events. 

“The production set-up at major live Network events is being reviewed to ensure there is effective monitoring of the output and social media activity to help support immediate response to on-air incidents. 

“The process for implementing the policy on revoking content on BBC iPlayer is being recommunicated internally to ensure effective removal of programming from the service where necessary.”

The report ends with a note that “the BBC’s Chief Content Officer has sent letters of apology to Delroy Lindo, Michael B. Jordan and John Davidson.”

You can read the full findings of the inquiry here.