At the BAFTA Awards, Tourette’s activist John Davidson shouted the N-word as Michael B. Jordan took the stage. Host Alan Cumming explained the background.
The BAFTA Awards were presented on Sunday, February 22, 2026 – and with them an incident occurred that would have been considered a real scandal under other circumstances. The two actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo gave a speech at the ceremony, during which the N-word could be clearly heard from the audience.
Tourette activist shouts the N-word
At the BAFTA Awards, the film “Avatar: Fire and Ash” took home the award for Best Visual Effects. It was presented by the two actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo. Among those in attendance was Tourette’s syndrome activist John Davidson, who became famous in the 1989 BBC documentary “John’s Not Mad.” The activist himself suffers from Tourette’s, and the documentary followed his life with the disease. Since then he has been involved in several campaigns for other affected people.
During the speech by the two black actors, John Davidson could clearly be heard shouting the N-word towards the stage. Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo didn’t show much reaction to the statement – they remained calm and professional and finished their speech.
Uproar over more heckling
The N-word incident wasn’t the only verbal slip-up of the evening. John Davidson shouted “Shut the fuck up!” in the direction of Sara Putt and “Fuck you!” when the directors of the film “Arco” accepted the award for the best children and family film.
John Davidson was in attendance at the event as he served as the inspiration for the nominated film “I Swaer.” After the N-word incident, he decided to leave the room, Variety reported.
Apologies from the host
There is no suggestion that John Davidson was intentional as he cannot control his exclamations due to his condition – however, host and presenter Alan Cumming apologized and explained the background: “Tourette’s syndrome is a disability and the tics you heard tonight are involuntary, meaning people with Tourette’s syndrome have no control over their speech. We apologize if you feel offended tonight.”
