Disgusted at the shaming of John Davidson

[Lionlion1]

I am absolutely stunned at people choosing to criticise John Davidson - people on this site, celebrities and that the BBC are reporting neutrally on this as if there are 2 sides to the story. The guy has Tourettes! He absolutely cannot help what happened. I have had a family member with a different but related illness and life is such a struggle for people with such conditions. Absolute misery. In these enlightened times of disability awareness, people pearl clutching and casting aspersions at a Tourettes sufferer shouting an obscenity really need to grow up. As they say, there but for the grace of God, go I.

He shouted words, not as a racist slur but because his brain is aware this as the worst possible thing he could say and he can't control it coming out. Words. He is a real human being suffering this every single day of his life. He hasn't actually hurt anyone. It is a word and if people so chose, they could shrug it off as an involuntary tic and show nothing but compassion. The outrage is just disgusting. I genuinely cannot believe that in 2026, in an age so many people are entitled to and demand adjustments due to their own personal struggles, that anyone can dare publicly criticise a person with Tourettes for involuntary tics. The ignorance is just astounding. I know I am NBU. Just feel so angry at the idiots daring to speak out against what happened.

Uh huh.

My late first husband had a brain tumour and sometimes came out with some awful things that he couldn't help, because of the location of the tumour.

It didn't mean that it wasn't upsetting to other people.

Coming down heavily on one 'side' is ridiculous here. Several people were upset last night for various reasons, and that's valid.

Clapping his hand over his mouth?

Just when I thought I've seen it all on this site. Ffs

Could not agree more.

If you've ever seen Keith Allen's Tourrette de France then it clearly shows how this syndrome causes sufferers to shout the most inappropriate thing at the most inappropriate time.

If as a society we have got to the point where the offence caused by someone with a neurological condition saying something completely involuntarily is more important than sympathy for the person totally unable to control saying it, then we are fucked because we've lost all sense of perspective.

Jeez, can you hear yourself? Do you think someone who is disabled in every area of his life as a result of this hasn’t tried ‘clapping his hand over his mouth’?

Seriously, you should be embarrassed to have typed that. If you know so little, read before you speak.

Oh. When he was there because of Tourettes? Have none of them watched the film - which was brilliant.

The BBC probably shouldn't have broadcast it though?

Why not - do people with Tourette Syndrome have no awareness or self control at all?

Pig ignorance.

Precisely, but all doing it from such a witch hunt of sanctimonious bile.

It's an involuntary tic.

I've seen a lot of ridiculous takes about tourettes today, but yours takes the prize.

I haven't heard anyone critisizing JD. I've heard plenty of criticism of the bbc for broadcasting the incident without censoring, and not giving any context for what happened.

Where are you reading that JD is being pilied-on? Who is attacking him?

I agree OP. I didn’t even know people were criticising him! It’s literally a symptom of his condition. How can people be blaming him? I’m sure he’s suffering enough with the intense shame & embarrassment he must be feeling

It's got attention, which was probably the cynical intention of the producers. John Davidson should not have been put in such a stressful position, which unfortunately means he should not have been sitting in the audience. The people upset by his words should not have had to endure what they were put through so publicly. In other words, everyone was used here to prove a point. They aren't just words, we all know that, and lack of intention does not mean people were not hurt.

yes, they literally have no self-control over what comes out of their mouths. It’s the literal definition of the condition 🤣 How do people know so little about Tourette’s?! It’s such a well-known condition

He had every right to be there.

It's a neurological condition, you might as well ask why someone with Parkinsons doesn't try to stop shaking.

So.. if anyone else comes on here with stupid comments like that i think we can assume they are trolling.

Explain why a group of actors, who sit in front of performers singing N this, N that, or who feature in films were it's in the script, would suddenly be so upset, knowing it isn't meant as a racial slur?
Machine gun Kelly turned down £millions for sinners because he'd have to use the N word. The likes of him, I'd say fair enough. But most sell their soul for the right price.

I'm not saying he didn't, but his right to be there does not trump the rights of those who racial slurs were shouted at. Its got to have been distressing for everyone.

The man shouted 'fuck the Queen' when receiving an award from the actual Queen and she didn't bat an eyelid. She understood John has a disability.

So who's rights trump who's?

Because if their rights trump his, John has to stay indoors alone forever.

It wasn't shouted as a racist slur. It was shouted as a word. I do find this to be sanctimonious nonsense. As someone has said up the thread, there are plenty of songs/ lines in films with this word. Simply hearing the word cannot hurt anyone when it wasn't intended in that way, and every single person knows that. People need to get over themselves if they really cannot cope with simply hearing a word

He is not facing a lynch mob. Please don’t be ridiculous. I suggest you educate yourself on what that term actually means.

Why are you trying to suggest I am demanding he stay indoors? And why are you trying to twist what I am saying into meaning that one side trumps the other, when that is the very opposite of what I meant? He was deliberately and cynically put into a stressful position, where the resulting outcome was very predictable.

You are taking my comment out of context - funny, as that's what the debate is about.