I can’t imagine that many people will have missed the expected fallout after this year’s BAFTA awards. But, regardless of any rights or wrongs, on either side of the ensuing debacle, I feel that there’s one arguably important question that hasn’t really been addressed: why is there so much vitriol and anger about the incident?

One of the big [award] winners was I Swear, a film about the life of John Davidson, who has spent his whole life at the forefront of Tourette syndrome awareness (see below).

The fallout from the BBC’s broadcast of this year’s BAFTA awards was to be expected; which accounts for why there has since been widely discussed controversy published across most media outlets. The disputes arose when a guest with Tourette’s syndrome shouted an offensive racial slur (the N-Word) during the live broadcast, whilst two black actors were on stage. The BBC later apologised for not editing out the incident from its coverage.

“We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all… “We will learn from this and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.”. (BBC)

Since the event, several news outlets have reported opposing views on the subject. Some critics argue that the BBC should have anticipated such issues and taken greater care in their editing process, highlighting the impact on [non white] viewers, and the need for more sensitivity from our broadcast media. Others have stressed the importance of understanding Tourette syndrome, noting that the outburst was involuntary, and they have expressed deep concerns as to why the individual involved should not have be vilified or stigmatised.

John Davidson has issued a statement to say he is “deeply mortified” if anyone thought his involuntary tic at the Bafta Film Awards was “intentional”. (The Independent)

I agree with both of the above viewpoints but I tend to have a deeper affinity with the latter, probably because I’m white. There has also been some debate about whether the BBC’s subsequent apology was sufficient, or if further action is required to address the wider issues of media representation and their respect – or lack of it – at public events. Although that is also a valid observation, it is undoubtedly one of those ‘devil if you do [edit] and devil if you don’t’ [edit] quandaries, which was perhaps missed in the moment.

However, Catherine Shoard writing in The Guardian concluded; “Bafta have allowed their successful diversity drive to be overshadowed” (see here). I think she was probably correct when she pointed out that the issue wasn’t so much about what John Davidson actually said during the proceedings; no one could have stopped him – he has Tourette syndrome. The more pertinent issue was perhaps the poor editorial control processes involved in the broadcast. It was also interesting to read that the broadcaster was able to “judiciously remove” a shout of “Free Palestine!” And they also chose not to include Alan Cumming’s comparison between Zootropolis 2 (“Lies, corrupt leaders, poisoning and persecution of a race”) to today’s events that are gripping America. Which all makes for a far more “perverse decision” when they [BBC] failed to edit out the “appalling racial insult”, regardless of the fact that it was most probably an involuntarily outburst.

I have to say, my initial response to hearing about the incident – whilst scrolling through my media feeds during a coffee break the following day – was… “Oh dear, that’s not good. Cue media shitstorm!” That said, when some people read my personal take on the situation, I can already hear the expected responses from vocal BAME ‘activists’ regardless of whether or not they hold any modicum of empathy; “that’s easy for you to say, in your position of white privilege.”

OK, as I’ve already admitted (above), I’m white. So, as a consequence of that birth ‘defect’, I couldn’t possibly even begin to feel any of the hurt which was clearly experienced by (some) non-white people. When they hear the N-Word it hurts. It cuts through all the social advances of decades and takes them back (metaphorically) to the darkest days of slavery again. Additionally, I’m also not impacted by any neurodiversity issues (that I’m aware of), like John Davidson. So I can accept the valid question probably being voiced somewhere… “how the hell could you possibly understand the real problem here?” And I’ll accept that, even if I struggle to totally agree with that particular inquisitive assumption. Unlike some, I can actually empathise.

Yet for me, putting aside – but not belittling – any hurt/harm that clearly oozed out from this unfortunate incident; I’ve actually found the entirety of the subsequent media-frenzy – and all the subsequent vitriolic bile in social media forums – to be both puerile if not a tad amusing. It was obvious (to me) from the outset that any mix involving the BBC and the N-Word was destined to blow-up and attract some heated debate – and probably correctly so. However, the immediate dialling up of that subsequent heat (by some) is the big worry for me. As with most topics today, that have an even remotely political context, or heaven forbid, ones that bring diversity issues to the fore, anger always tends to follow. Everyone is fervently ‘instructed’ – by the media and their peers – to pick their particular side in the battle of any polar opinions; fight for it and stick by it… or else. There is no consideration for nuanced debate, no acceptance of context and certainly no middle-ground available that anyone is allowed to perch within.

Almost everything that I’ve read, in the news and on social media forums, since the event has been firmly and rigidly bolted to one side or other of a political flagpole. Either that or was possibly constructed as rage-bait, with an aim of increasing social media traffic, or reinforce our growing social division. But thankfully, I did come across one or two middle-ground opinions since the shitstorm engulfed my media feeds. However, nuance and context was still mostly conspicuous by its absence in many of those pieces.

One sensible and balanced opinion that I did come across was written by a [non-white] woman by the name of Regina Martin; a life coach, brand strategist, all round digital business guru and self-styled Confidence Healer. Within a post on Regina’s Facebook account she wrote; “I’ve sat with the BAFTA situation for a while before saying anything, because… this one is complicated. And it deserves nuance, not noise.” So true. Regina went on to highlight the fact that “We can hold space for more than one truth at the same time” and that is something that we rarely witness these days. She concluded her post with by saying;

“What we lost was a collective moment of celebration, and what hurts most is watching that loss be minimised instead of acknowledged. We didn’t need division here. We needed care. We needed responsibility. We needed institutions to do better. Because empathy should never require one community’s pain to be ignored in order to validate another’s.” (Regina Martin)

I suspect that at least some small part of Regina’s post might have been AI generated – I’ve seen several with similar wording since the event – but it still made me want to applaude her stance, and do some internet research to find out more about her.

Browsing Regina’s website it is clear that she has “the AUDACITY to succeed”, no matter how others might view her, because she’s “fearless & fierce as f*ck!” Which is a probably good set of life-skills for anyone and everyone to have these days. We all need some armour to help protect us from those people who spend all their time punching-down on others, for their own gain.

Having started my week with sadness – about the increasing levels of hatred within our society – it was refreshing this morning to find something that offered a glimmer of hope, to help conclude my week on a more positive note.

The Green Party has won the Gorton and Denton by-election, with Hannah Spencer taking the seat from Labour in the Greens’ first ever Westminster by-election victory. (BBC News)

But again the thinly disguised hatred and polar political vitriol quickly flooded the news cycle, as everyone and his mate spewed forth their often-odious opinions.

In her victory speech Spencer – now the Green Party’s fifth MP – said: “Working hard used to get you something. It got you a house, a nice life, holidays, it got you somewhere.” She went on to highlight how times have changed; “now working hard, what does that get you? Because talk to anyone here and they will tell you, the people work hard but can’t put food on the table, can’t get their kids school uniforms, can’t put their heating on, can’t live off the pension they worked hard to save for, can’t even begin to dream about ever having a holiday, ever. “Instead of working for a nice life, we’re working to line the pockets of billionaires. We are being bled dry.” And she’s not wrong!

Reform UK’s Matt Goodwin crowed about how he had “embarrassed Labour in one of their strongest seats”. But despite his personal expectations – “…if we can do this here, we can do this pretty much anywhere” – he couldn’t help but quickly turn into attack-dog mode and berate the Greens. Blaming their victory on a “coalition of Islamists and woke progressives.” Goodwin opined: “I think what you’ve seen is the emergence of a dangerous sectarianism in British politics. I think the Greens are riding a very dangerous wave.”

All of today’s subsequent media outpouring has been predictable; the political losers are either trying to swing flailing punches in a fight already lost or have recoiled to a foetal position to shed tears. And the predominant right-wing media? They have been attempting to savage everyone who might sit anywhere remotely left of an extreme right ‘centre’ ground, and particularly the Greens. Is it really any wonder that people have got pissed-off with the established political status quo?

Further reading:

• Tourettes Action: the UK-wide charity dedicated to supporting individuals with Tourette syndrome and their families (see Website).
• Backlash over BAFTA broadcast (The Guardian).
• John Davidson ‘deeply mortified’ if anyone felt Bafta N-word incident was intentional (The Independent).
• Why the Baftas must get rid of their two-hour delay and broadcast live (The Guardian).
• Labour MP Dawn Butler [BAME] asks BBC for explanation (BBC)
• Updates from Gorton & Denton By-election (BBC)
• Reform UK reports alleged ‘family voting’ in Gorton and Denton by-election to the police (ITV News)
• Green victory shows insurgent parties are here to stay (BBC News)

John Davidson MBE was born in the early 1970’s in Galashiels, Scotland. Like many of his peers he left school without any qualifications; he subsequently began work as a caretaker at his local Community Centre in Galashiels, where since 2002 he has also been a part-time youth worker. He subsequently joined the board of Tourette Scotland and was awarded an MBE in recognition of his efforts around “increase understanding of the condition and helping families deal with it across the country”. He has written a book, I SWEAR: My life with Tourette’s, to accompany the award-winning feature film of the same name. You can purchase that book via my Amazon UK affiliate link, or an outlet of your choice.