Tourette syndrome activist John Davidson says Bafta told him ‘any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast’

2026-02-25 - 11:52

Davidson said he ‘can’t begin to explain how upset and distraught I have been’ over slurs he shouted during the award ceremony • With N-word incident, Bafta has shot itself in the foot • Why the Baftas must pivot to broadcasting live John Davidson, the Tourette syndrome (TS) activist at the centre of the Baftas N-word controversy, says that Bafta and the BBC “should have been aware of what to expect” from TS, and that he had been told that any offensive words would be removed. In an interview with Variety, Davidson said that Bafta had told him and the film’s backers StudioCanal “that any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast”. He said: “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 – which, after all, was some 40 rows back from the stage – from being included in the broadcast.” Continue reading...