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

Are you wilfully being obtuse?

Why do you get to decide the N word is worse than ‘paddy’? You’ve even spelled it out in whole.

Right? The only other way to interpret this is that it's not OK to offend rich, famous black men but for ordinary black people, offend away (because I think the argument is he shouldn't have gone to the event but he can still go out and about).

No, it makes you a decent human being. The same as those who object to people not bothering to understand tourettes and its debilitating effects.

You've misread the post, I asked you about the poster who said the word's not an issue that and your lack of response to them. I didn't say you said it.

There have been ample explanations of why this happens with many people living with Tourette’s.

The same way he has called women sluts and whores - he doesn’t think that, but it’s the most offensive thing to say about a woman so it just pops out.

He apparently also shouted “I love bears” when Paddington came on. It’s not all insults.

You can keep saying “racial abuse” over and over again, but it doesn’t make it so.

What part of “it’s a Tourette’s tic” is it that you are failing to grasp?

That's him! That is John. See also "up to my knees in cowpats!" 😂

I didn't say any word is worse. I spelled it out because the Irish person who posted it spelled it out.

Why aren't you asking them why they spelled it out?

If I had a child with Tourettes I wouldn't apologise for them, but if I had a very ignorant and intolerant family member like yourself I'd apologise on your behalf!!

Nope, I have never told anyone to educate themselves. That would be a lazy and evasive response. Don’t put words into my mouth.

As I said, John shouting “n*gger” may not have been INTENDED as abuse but it FUNCTIONED in the same way.

It would have produced the same shock, the same hurt and the same humiliation in the people it was seemingly aimed at.

Do you understand?

Objecting to the uncontrolled symptoms of disabled people makes you an ableist little wet wipe.

What aren’t you getting?

But hey if racism offends you there’s plenty of things to be offended about. Get mad about what ICE is doing to POC in the US. Get mad about racism in football. Don’t get mad about something which has no offence (because there’s no intent) and is said by someone who literally cannot help it

No it isn't, in contexts like this. The man is disabled, he has coprololia - there is no intent to abuse anyone.

It's actually a really horrible thing to say.

My beef is with you.

I understand that it would have been hurtful to hear. But that still doesn’t make it racial abuse.

Why are you so intent on interpreting the tics of someone with Tourette’s as abuse?

Do you understand that it’s not abuse?

You literally did say he should be hidden away so he didn’t offend the privileged healthy wealthy men though. In many ways HE has more of a right to be there than them as a film about him was being celebrated.

Because he suffers from coprolalia, which makes you say the most taboo, socially inappropriate things in the context of the situation:

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

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

Clearly!

This has been explained countless times on here.

Did you read the quoted posts in full?

The person I was responding to had told another poster, a woman of colour, that her child would be likely to call the poster a racist name if she was to encounter her in real life. And she went on to say that the poster would be the person who was at fault if she took any issue with said child calling her a racial slur.

No, but insisting that something was racial abuse when it was a disabled man's tic, does.

No, I did not literally say that.

Can you quote the post where I literally say this man should be “hidden away”?

I think most people with emotional intelligence can see that all the affected individuals have suffered here.

Hearing offensive words is difficult. I am Asian. Whilst I have had abuse of all sorts in my life, about my shape, glasses, teeth, etc, it is the P word and racism that have made me feel most humiliated. I can only speak for myself but it’s a complex mix of anger, fear and embarrassment. I also recognise that this was an involuntary tic. I’d like to think that I would be able to rise above it, but I can’t pretend that I wouldn’t have a moment of feeling upset by being called an unpleasant racist name. I would be able to mentally rationalise it as I know what Tourette’s is, but privately my feelings would be momentarily hurt, I would be reminded of the racism in the world and my precious experiences etc and I think that’s okay to have those feelings and process them?

People with Tourette’s cannot help themselves. Their brain automatically goes to the worst possible insult and they end up saying it. I bet they hate themselves for it. We can all look at people who are gay, a different colour, disabled etc and imagine the worst possible insult, but that doesn’t mean that we are prejudiced against them. People with Tourette’s automatically think about the worst possible insult and say it. That does not mean that they are prejudiced. In a way it is actually the opposite of what they actually want to do.

I sometimes think back to when I had a small baby. Looking back, I think I had some kind of anxiety or OCD. I used to get intrusive thoughts of throwing my baby out of the window or dropping him down the stairs. I would imagine doing the worst things to him. Of course I didn’t want to, it was the opposite of that. But my brain was doing weird things. I didn’t confide in anybody because I was so horrified at myself. I know this is not what Tourette is, but I can certainly imagine having the worst possible thoughts un my head, which did not reflect the person I was.

The whole thing seems to have been handled badly. It is such a shame that we are discussing all this rather than celebrating the successes of all the deserving winners.

I feel sorry for those whose nights were spoiled by hearing ‘racist’ words which whilst not intended that way, it may have reminded them of other abuse they had received in their lives, and also reminded them of the historical connotations of the dreadful word. I really hope that they are able to understand and move on from this whilst being heard and understood themselves.

And I really hope that John is doing okay. He has lived a life of shame and no doubt self loathing. My heart really goes out to him. It’s not his fault he has this condition. He is inadvertently a target for abuse and mockery and it is just not fair. He doesn’t want to be this person.

There are no winners here.

Delroy Lindo is a Windrush child. He came here with nothing. The film ' Sinners' is about black music. He and MBJ and Hannah Beachley had a right to be there.

I am tired of this privilege argument.
JD had a right to be there. So did the two presenters. So did everyone invited.

If you ‘obviously recognise that Tourette’s is involuntary’ then you’ll know that this was in no way deliberate.