To think John Davidson and BAFTA owe an apology

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I have sympathy for anyone with Tourette’s. I genuinely do. It’s a difficult condition and I’m not for one second suggesting John Davidson is a bad person or that he chose to say what he said. But sympathy for a condition doesn’t mean the impact on others gets ignored.

Intent matters but so does impact. If I accidentally stand on someone’s foot I still say sorry, even though I didn’t mean to do it. “I didn’t mean it” and “I acknowledge I hurt you” are not mutually exclusive. I wouldn’t get annoyed at the suggestion of apologising simply because I didn’t mean it, so why is this different? Especially as it was a public stage in front of millions. I don’t expect John to apologise every day in normal interactions, but at such a public forum - he should. Michael B Jordan looked visibly devastated. It was so sad.

When he saw two Black men and the n-word came out — not H**ky at the white hosts for example, not some other neutral word, the n-word directed at Black people in the room — that caused real harm to real people. Tourette’s tics are shaped by what the brain reaches for as most “forbidden” in a given moment, and what it reached for when he saw two Black men was a racial slur aimed at them. That raises really uncomfortable questions about unconscious bias that most people would rather sidestep entirely.

It doesn’t make him a conscious racist. But it does make it a conversation worth having, because our unconscious associations don’t come from nowhere — they’re shaped by everything we’ve absorbed over a lifetime. That connotation being the first place his brain went is something that deserves acknowledgement, not just a pass because of the diagnosis. And as a POC, I have to be honest — this is heartbreaking. Not just the incident itself but what it represents.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to explain to white friends and colleagues that certain spaces feel uncomfortable, that you notice the stares, that you carry this constant low level awareness of how you might be being perceived. And so often the response is “you’re imagining it” or “you’re being too sensitive.” You get gaslit into doubting your own lived experience. Well — moments like this are exactly why it isn’t in our heads. This is the reality POC navigate every single day. Always on alert. Always doing that mental calculation of whether someone is judging you for the colour of your skin. That emotional labour is exhausting and largely invisible to people who’ve never had to carry it.

John thanking the audience for their “understanding” puts the burden entirely on those who were hurt to just get over it. That’s not the same as acknowledging the pain caused. AIBU to think a bit more than “thanks for understanding” was needed here — from both of them?

Ok fair enough. I agree with what you say now you have explained further.
I am not keen on Jamie Foxx adding fuel to the fire. I don't think he has any understanding of Tourettes.
But then there are also commentators like Lawrence Fox who have insisted that they MUST use the N word, because black people do.
I agree that JD used the word with no malice. So it should have been edited out.

Have you seen any other Tarantino films? He’s always been pretty free with the N word in movies whether or not it relates to slavery. Several of his films use the word repeatedly even if not as often in Django Unchained. Reservoir Dogs, which was his first film, uses it 5 times. He’s about as well known for liberal use of that word as he is his love of feet. So I do think that Jamie Foxx is a hypocrite.

Yes the bbc should have edited it out, but so much of the criticism has been of john davidson which is completely unfair. I really wouldn't recommend taking any notice of anything Laurence fox says, calling him a commentator is very generous!

I think Foxx was right to support the use of the word within the context of the subject matter of those movies. But as far as I’m concerned he hit a personal low with his comments on SM. He’s influential and has a large following, and he used that to stoke the backlash against JD, and for that l do blame him, yes. But not because he’s black. I blame him because he contributed to the ignorance surrounding Tourette’s by claiming that the comments were deliberate, thus denying disability.

I am not really surprised that Jamie Foxx wasn’t feeling compassionate, that is not defending him but we can all reach our point. I don’t agree with what he said but I can understand the thinking ffs again I am having to hear this/deal with this when does it end

it’s only a few weeks ago the president of the US (repeat that again) posted a terribly offence tweet and didn’t apologise and it was excused, I can think of another incident that was in our news (countless more will be in the US news) of public racism against black people

Again it’s not up to anyone else but that person to decide how they should feel

I have. Can't remember the N word. Some were a while ago.
But if you say he uses it, I believe you as my memory is hazy.

We can agree that JD's use of it was free of malice and hurt. Speaking from experience though, it still hurts to have a racist slur yelled at you at a forum for professional achievement.
Therefore all some of us are saying: BAFTA and the BBC failed in their duty of care by not erasing the slurs.But even this is apparently ableist. Even if JD asked for his tics to be erased, prior to the show!

Jamie Foxx wasn’t just not feeling compassionate, he actively denied disability in order to take offence, and that’s exactly what we’re talking about here. He used his SM following to stoke up bad feeling against JD and as a result of his input there were death threats. In what world is this proportionate to what happened ?

The issue is whether an intelligent, rational and compassionate person is going to hold a disabled person responsible for using a slur they find offensive, even though they know that the use of that slur was absolutely nothing to do with the character or beliefs of that person, but entirely the product of a disability over which they have no control. By his actions Foxx has shown people that he is not that person, and while demanding compassion and understanding for his own situation, he has shown none for that of JD.

So are you saying we’ve now reached the point where a person of colour can make the most disgusting and deeply offensive ableist comments, and stoke up hatred and threats of violence against a disabled person, but we’re not allowed to call them out on it because they’re black ?

I agree that it was still hurtful and that the Bafta’s and BBC definitely could have and should have handled it better but Jamie Foxx is a total hypocrite when he vociferously objects to a disabled man who said it involuntarily because of a severe disability and who has a recent movie that explains his struggles but who apparently doesn’t object to working with a white director who has used that word repeatedly in a number of his movies regardless of whether that movie relates to slavery. Really that’s where you want to focus your outrage? But then I guess that Tarantino paid Jamie Foxx a lot of money and John Davidson didn’t.

No, a few comments here, and several on the previous thread were actually insinuating that JD should never have been invited to the event in the first place. Simply because of the unpredictability of his disability. So it’s fine to cause offence to one section of the community in order to avoid potential offence to another. A poster was talking about the segregation of black people upthread. How is this not the same thing ?

No I am not I said I can understand why JF was not feeling compassionate

it can’t possibly go unnoticed that black people are held to different ideals than white and even brown people

Well, PoC are not a monolith. Just like white people aren't. We will have differing views.

I don't think JD should not have been invited. I do think from that Variety article that he wanted to keep a low profile- have his tics edited out, no mic near him- amd BAFTA pushed him into a high one. I also do not think JD leaving the hall voluntarily is segregation , as was claimed yesterday. Poor choice of word

I also find it absolutely terrible that the BBC edited out the word ' Piss" uttered by Paul Thomas Anderson, because it would be offensive, but thought broadcasting the N word to millions- who would not know about JD- perfectly fine. It's not ableist to want that word deleted.

How does splitting hairs like this help ? Tourettes is a condition, but it can also be a disability if it satisfies the definition of disability as prescribed by the Equality Act 2010. There are degrees of severity within most conditions, which is why we have a legal definition of disability.

It helps to understand it as essentially a form of intrusive thought connected to the mouth. Anyone who experiences intrusive thoughts knows that they're the result of a self destructive, miswired brain that hits you with the worst things it can think of. The entire reason those thoughts enter your mind is because your brain knows you find them horrifying. In John's case, his brain also fires that stuff out of his mouth without him being able to stop it.

What do you mean FFS what again, is it a regular occurrence where a person with Tourette’s is unfortunately broadcast in this way?

Jamie Foxc has caused a lot of harm, the exposure his tweet will have had has helped no one

I think the discussion around whether the word should or should not have been broadcast is a distraction. It could be argued that it was right to broadcast it because editing minimises the devastating effect of this particular disability on the disabled person themselves, as well as those around them. And editing it out doesn’t erase the effect on the people at whom it was aimed.

If we are to educate ourselves as a society and be properly inclusive of disabled people then we need to understand and accept the different facets of disability. And to do that we can’t shy away and edit out the bits we don’t like, otherwise the ignorant attitudes will remain.

Encapsulates the difficulty beautifully, thank you.

I strongly disagree with you and I continue to say that black and brown people are not a teaching aid. We don't need to submit to unedited racial slurs to educate the world about Tourettes. Not our job.

JD himself wanted his tics edited out! According to that Variety article. Before he even attended the event. Are you saying you wanted it carried despite his wishes? Does he get a say?

Has Jamie Foxx apologised yet?

Of course not. The buddy of Diddy and Epstein, with the sexual assault allegations against him , has not apologised.

Of course he won't

But this is exactly when DL and MBJ should be speaking up tbh, they're noticeable now with their lack of comment. A statement from them expressing the hurt caused by hearing the word but acknowledging that it was unintentional and they hold no malice towards John would be a good counterpoint to Foxx's actual hate speech

But then that's apparently making black people teaching aids and it's wrong to expect a bit of compassion

Yeah no. They don't need to say a damn thing. Especially as they are also receiving abuse and being told off by MAGA for whining, when they have said not a single word.

Especially given that he has now apologised to them in person (for all he shouldn't have to).

It's coming across as lacking in compassion now, to see mass witch hunt against a vulnerable man, and not make a statement to take the heat out of things.

Have you ever heard the term ‘all that’s needed for evil to prevail, is for good men to do nothing’ ?

Some…so as I was saying, black people are not monolith. We both have the same view point, we don’t use the word.

I think your second point is really valid, but the slur is much more offensive if you perceive that John must feel that way about black people deep down and it came to the surface, vs an understanding of what tourretes actually is.
My understanding is that he feels an overwhelming urge to say things which he knows are terrible, not that tourretes removes a filter for saying true feelings out loud.
This is where people are split, it's like schrodinger's slur.