At the BAFTA Film Awards, Michael B. Jordan was presenting an award when an audience member yelled the n-word. Although many were startled and overwhelmed by this incident, it wasn’t the result of deliberate racism.
Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the Best Visual Effects Award during the awards event. Michael began by expressing his and Delroy’s excitement about giving the honor. As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the audience yelled the abhorrent insult.
Both Michael and Delroy, as well as the audience, were astonished at that startling moment. After a period of silence, Delroy bravely carried on speaking. This would be a blatant instance of racism in any other circumstance, but this one was different. It was discovered that John Davidson, who has Tourette’s syndrome, was the one who uttered this racial epithet.
In addition, he advocates for Tourette’s syndrome. Cursing outbursts are a part of his tics, and that’s what transpired here. Nobody could have foreseen this terrible and painful incident.
One Redditor also noted how the circumstance is still painful, even if Davidson didn’t want to say it, writing, “I blame the organizers. People should have been made aware that someone in the audience had Tourette’s and that something offensive may be yelled at different points. For Lindo and Jordan, this must have been an extremely painful moment. As far as they would know, someone chose to be extremely racist at a major moment for them professionally and personally. All the while, they had to continue being professional. Even when caused by Tourette’s the n-word is still a violent and painful word. That being said, knowing it was caused by Tourette’s may have helped in the moment and would have provided immediate context afterwards.”