John Davidson shouting the N word during the BAFTAS

[Crawse]

John Davidson has Tourettes and is a campaigner for the condition. Whist Michale B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting he shouted out the racial slur. It’s extremely uncomfortable to watch. I feel terrible for the two presenters. I’m really conflicted on this one.

What are your thoughts?

No one should be subjected to abuse. That is my bottom line. Maybe the fact I was called P*** (I’m half Indian) growing up has influenced my views. I obviously recognise Tourette’s is involuntary.

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/02/22/entertainment/baftas-2026-tourettes-racist-slur

I really wish there was a mute button on MN. Lots of different views, mostly interesting and thoughtful even if I disagree and then 2 pp just endlessly posting crap presumably just to get a rise. SO tedious

The ableism on this thread is staggering. Make disabled people stay at home or ‘in a back room’ in case they upset the normal people.
Absolutely disgusting views.

My dd has epilepsy as well as tourettes, it's very common to have both.

She gets far more understanding for her epileptic seizures than she does for her tourettes tics, even though both are completely involuntary.

God, of course having Tourette’s is a living nightmare. No one denies that.

But I too don’t get it.

I get it’s involuntary, and it’s a tick. But, I don’t see how this example is a coincidence or totally random.

I’ve seen other documentaries on Tourette’s. One followed a young man and his interactions. He couldn’t control his ticks, and his shouting out, but all the things he did shout had context. For example, I remember him being in a garden centre cafe and he shouted paedo at a guy. Then a large young lady walked past and he shouted “big tits”, “fat cow” at her. So how is that a coincidence. Why not just shout out “fuckwittery bollocks” or something random.

It does on the face of it seem that someone might be subconsciously thinking it, due to whatever ingrained reason, but if you have Tourette’s, you can’t filter it.

It’s a catch 22 situation. It’s a disability that needs supporting, but equally people should be able to go about their business without being called a “fat cow” or the N word.

But it's not 'his thought' as in that's what he thinks and wants to say...it's his though in the sense that we all know of that word and know how hurtful and inappropriate it is, as does he.

But his brain and body force him to say it via an uncontrollable compulsion because he knows it's the worst thing he could possibly say and he is likely trying to will himself not to say it, which makes it worse.

Yes if John had shouted TWAW you would not have all these posters tying themselves in knots

two things can be true at once. John may have said the n word involuntarily and the word could have caused offence/hurt those on the receiving end.

He wouldn’t be kept away, he’s being removed during a trigger point for him, so that he doesn’t overshadow the black people in the spotlight. He can rejoin once they’ve left the stage.

And as an aside, you can’t use black people as a therapy tool, if they want to keep away from someone calling them ‘n”””””’ they absolutely have the right to keep away.

I completely sympathise with him having Tourettes, it must be absolute hell. This was a night to celebrate his film, it was also a night to celebrate other people's films. They had as much right to celebrate their success as he did and now it will be tarnished forever to them and their families because of the racist abuse they were subjected to. It doesn't matter that the guy couldn't help it, the words still had the same effect, they were still as offensive, he didn't just shout "biscuits" at them. The night was ruined for those guys, you could see the shock on their faces. Every time they play back the video, maybe to show their children and future grandchildren, they are going to have to explain what the bleeping out noise is for. He must know that when he sees black people he can't help but shout racial abuse at them and he must also have been aware that one of the films up for nomination had a black cast and he'd be bound to racially abuse them, so why the heck did he go to the ceremony? Couldn't he have watched it from a side room or watched it at home? If he'd had a tic where he threw random punches at people do you really think they would have sat him in the audience? Those black guys did not deserve to be subjected to that abuse, whoever it came from.

Attitudes like yours means that this night will haunt John for the rest of his life. Well done.

Do you think if a bride said that they don't want to be racially abused on their wedding day so they didn't invite a colleague with Tourette's she is a horrible person? If someone's disability gave them a compulsion to masturbate can anyone refuse to be in their company or must we all be understanding?

There are some shockingly terrible responses on here. This man has a disability which causes involuntary actions. Google is at your fingertips…there’s really no defence to being so utterly ignorant on the subject of Tourette’s.

Do we honestly think having a particular skin colour is a disability? If that's the progressive approach, it seems to have horseshoed into raging racism if so.

If someone had a condition that involved an involuntary tic that made them hit people, they might not be responsible for what they've done, but someone has still been hit. And they should be prevented from hitting people.

In this case, while the person may not be racist, the fact that it was used while two black people happen to be on stage could certainly make them wonder if that person is racist underneath the surface, and feel racially attacked.

Personally, if I had Tourette's I'd want to muzzle myself in public, because I couldn't stand the idea of yelling insults at people 🫢 What a nightmare for all involved.

I think the blame lies on the TV directors for airing it. They made it much worse for everyone involved.

Not that it didn't cause harm to the people in the event who heard it, but I think (or thought, until today's social media reactions) that the majority of people understand that TS sufferers with coprolalia cannot control what they say AND that it being the worst possible thing to say is a feature, not a bug. Sometimes people are ill or disabled in ways that cause harm to other people: that's not just a feature of TS, there are a lot of conditions that cause harm to other people. I have schizophrenic relatives, for example, and by and large they do not want to hurt people, but sometimes they do. It's awful and unfortunate for people who are hurt, and it not being voluntary doesn't mean that hurt isn't real, but part of living in a society is understanding that disabilities can do that and having a bit of compassion about it.

People assuming it means he's secretly racist or uniquely saving his tics for black people are missing the point of the condition: the taboo and wrongness of things is very often WHY they are tics in the first place. If people want to be unhappy about the fact that racism exists in the first place and therefore the worst place his neurological condition could take him was there, then I completely agree: it's a shame that there exists a term so specifically hurtful and dehumanising. But the vast majority of adults know this slur exists and that it's horrific - the difference is that I don't have a condition that makes me say the worst possible thing at any given moment. His knowing it does not make him racist and his saying it does not signify anything other than that he's aware of the cultural and social impact of doing so, because that's very often what coprolalia does. Just like him shouting about drugs in the airport or telling the Queen to get fucked when both of those things are as socially inappropriate as they can be.

I don't think anyone disagrees with this though? Of course it is hurtful.

People have explained why it is and how for people that have this manifestation the tic is likely to be the most inappropriate thing to say in the circumstances

He doesn't know what a trigger point will be though. He could see 1000 black people and say nothing, and then a tic will happen. There is no rhyme nor reason, its a neurological condition. Anything could be a trigger at any time even if its never happened before.

Hiding disabled people away because we don't like their disabilities is far more harmful, I would suggest.

The utter ignorance on this thread is just mindblowing.

I didn’t say being black is a disability, I said black people are a minority, like TS sufferers and that both should be protected.

No, that’s not true. It’s not involuntarily expressing your thoughts, it’s involuntarily saying the worst possibly thing you can imagine in any given scenario. It’s the thing you dread accidentally saying, and often does not reflect your thoughts at all.

Because it's not a coincidence, you're right:

"Coprolalia encompasses the uncontrollable utterance of words and phrases that are culturally taboo or generally unsuitable for acceptable social use"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprolalia

That's what makes it such a difficult disability to live with.

Well he now knows black people are a trigger point so he should do them the courtesy of briefly leaving the space so as not to inadvertently call them ‘n””””””’.

The ‘free Palestine’ thing is not to do with offensiveness, but because of the rules around political impartiality at the bbc. You’re putting them both in the same category because they are both editorial decisions, but different principles and processes apply so they’re not in the same category at all. One relates to politics and the other is a balance between disability and offensiveness.

Isn't alcoholism an illness?

The fact that he removed himself shows that he knew the situation was impossible. It was entirely foreseeable that at such a stressful event this would happen. Do you think he had a good time before he left and isn't now regretting going?

So he needs to stay away from all black people just in case?

What about when he says something offensive to a woman, keep him away from them too.

Fuck it, bring back the asylums just in case grown adults can't get their head around a neurological condition that causes involuntary vocal tics.

He should attend as is his right but he should step out when black people are on stage or presenting, so that he doesn’t inadvertently use racist language when they’re on stage.

But his tourettes will not be solely focused on black people? He could shot something highly offensive to anybody at any point. I assume other black people had been up on stage through the night and this hadn't happened each time.