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

Eh?

Almost every single post you've made proves very much that you DON'T get it.

In fact I'd say you don't get it because you simply don't WANT to.

So?

Oh, I have, and you don't.

What you are missing here is that he is not doing this intentionally. As that is a fact, whether he is shouting racist words, or sexist words or homophobic words or simply calling someone a cunt makes no difference.

It's. Not. Intentional. Your mitigation that people with this condition just lock themselves away is not a solution, it's just bigotry.

It wasn't, and I don't think it's helpful having sacred cows to that extent.

No I don't think anyone should hear slurs hurled at them based on their characteristics, but again, this wasn't a deliberate slur, there was zero intent to hurt or offend.

How anyone can blame John is unfathomable to me.
He pours boiling hot water on his own hands for crying out loud. He’s not doing anything intentionally.

I didn’t say it wasn’t a horrible word with horrible connotations, I said that it is considered uniquely bad among all words because of identity politics. Why do you think it’s the only word offensive that is considered unutterable/unwritable?

Will you go back and see my posts that say we all understand it’s involuntary?

That’s not what’s being discussed here. The discussion has moved to - if you have already said the N word twice that evening, don’t approach a black woman later in the evening when you know you might call her the N word (and he did).

I read that he'd left the event after he shouted out what was heard on stage - other than one tweet, do you have specific reported evidence of that?

So you expect him never to be seen in public then?🙄

But that's like saying he shouldn't approach anybody, because he might always have a tic related to some protected characteristic of theirs.

If you find yourself offended that someone with tourettes has a tic, then remove yourself from the situation. Or get a grip. They can't help it. It isn't intentional.

Again, we all know it was involuntary, but the attitudes on this thread and the lack of sympathy to Jordan and Lindo is very telling.

That people are saying black people should not keep away from people that call them the N word is also very telling.

So are you saying that you don’t believe Helen Beachler?

She has been quoted in the press.

I don’t have sympathy for anyone who takes what a sufferer of Tourette’s says or does during a tic. The intent to offend just isn’t there.

Bleating about intention just makes you sound like a broken record. We all know it wasn’t intentional.

But read the room and don’t approach someone who is going to trigger you to say the N word to them.

@nomas so, he should avoid people who he thinks he might offend?

So black people should keep away from John in case he “insults” them, and women too? And gays? And anyone else with any kind of protected characteristic ? Isn’t that unfairly limiting the life of someone with a disability?

The intent doesn’t matter, black people can absolutely remove themselves away from a TS sufferer that is upsetting them by calling them the N word.

If you read the thread, there are people saying that even on a black woman’s wedding day, she should invite someone with TS who may call her the N word on her wedding day, if not, she would be discriminating against them.

Those are the attitudes being discussed here, not John’s.

The largest racial factor of Tourette's especially in the states is the under diagnosis of Tourette's within communities. The racial slurs cross racial divides. A black woman explaining how her Tourette's has no boundaries just after she had called a man a jihad in the supermarket

So;

1. don’t approach black people (in case of n word)
2. don’t approach women (in case of c word)
3. don’t approach children (in case of p word)
4. don’t approach men (in case of being hospitalised again)
5. don’t approach anyone (in case of anything)
6. do live alone lonely, isolated (maybe in a basement)

The next time he is invited to an awards show, if black guests are called to the stage, he should step out as a courtesy.

The BBC have reported that he left the event afterwards, apparently of his own accord.

I apologise- I’m feeling extremely defensive today as you might well imagine.

To answer your question - personally- if it were my son whose entire life's work has been about raising the profile and understanding of Tourette’s ( like John’s has) I wouldn’t have wanted it broadcast but I absolutely understand why it was and I would have insisted that there was a lot of legal protection put around my son up front as anyone who knows anyone with this form of Tourette’s would know this scenario was extremely likely to occur. I feel massively sorry for the two actors who heard this and hope they understand more about Tourette’s today than they probably did before this.
Spend two minutes with anyone with this condition and you quickly learn they will be more upset by this than anyone. There’s some amazing poc Tourette’s sufferers coming out in defence of John and really hope John has good support around him and this doesn’t affect the film’s Oscar chances.

If a black women likes someone enough to invite them to her wedding, you’d assume she understands the fact they have Tourette’s and wouldn’t take offence

Your ignorance makes you sound like a broken record.