BAFTA Judge Quits After Racial Slur Broadcast Fallout Deepens
Resignation by Jonte Richardson adds to pressure on BAFTA and the BBC after a delayed telecast aired an unedited racial slur linked to a guest’s involuntary Tourette-related tic.
BAFTA judge Jonte Richardson has resigned from the academy’s emerging talent panel, calling the organization’s handling of the BAFTA awards racial-slur incident “utterly unforgivable” and accusing it of failing to protect Black guests and the Black creative community. Richardson announced his decision after a ceremony in which Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting on stage.
The controversy has widened because the BBC’s broadcast was shown on a roughly two-hour delay, yet the slur remained in the televised version and stayed on iPlayer until the next morning. The broadcaster later apologized and said the language came from involuntary verbal tics linked to Tourette syndrome, adding that the moment would be removed from the streaming version. Reports also noted that other material, including Akinola Davies Jr.’s “Free Palestine” remark, was edited out, which intensified criticism of the editorial choices.
BAFTA said audiences inside the venue had been warned before the ceremony that Davidson might vocalize strong language, and it later issued a statement saying it took “full responsibility” for placing guests in a difficult situation. The academy apologized to Jordan and Lindo and said it would learn from the incident. Richardson, in his resignation statement, said the response failed to properly address harm to Black people and disabled people, language that has become a central point in the backlash.
Davidson later said he was “deeply mortified,” according to multiple reports, and public coverage has stressed that Tourette syndrome can include involuntary vocal tics, including swearing. That has shaped a tense debate across the film industry and disability advocates: many critics have focused on the racial harm to Jordan and Lindo and the missed edit in a delayed broadcast, while disability advocates have urged the public to avoid treating involuntary tics as intentional speech.
Fresh reporting published after Richardson’s resignation added another pressure point: Warner Bros., the studio behind Sinners, reportedly raised concerns with BAFTA during the ceremony and asked that the slur be removed before the BBC transmission. That account has sharpened scrutiny of communication failures between BAFTA and the broadcaster on one of the U.K. film industry’s biggest live events.
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