The broadcast of a racial slur shouted out during the BAFTA awards breached the BBC‘s editorial standards, the corporation has ruled.
The finding from the BBC’s executive complaints unit (ECU) came on Wednesday.
In response, the broadcaster’s chief content officer, Kate Phillips, insists that the breach “was not intentional.”
At the BAFTAs in February, John Davidson, executive producer on I Swear (and whose life growing up with Tourette’s inspired the film), shouted the the N-word while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for best visual effects.
The backlash was international, and savage, particularly towards the BBC, who was criticised for airing the moment.
John Davidson. Source: BBC
BBC found to have breached standards over BAFTA’s racial slur
The ECU said it had received “a large number of complaints” about the BBC’s BAFTAs coverage, and upheld those “relating to editorial standards on harm and offence.”
It said in its report: “The ECU found that the inclusion of the n-word in the broadcast (which was also streamed live on iPlayer) was highly offensive, had no editorial justification and represented a breach of the BBC’s editorial standards, but that the breach was unintentional.”
Phillips revealed in her response to the report that she wrote to Lindo, Jordan, and their Sinners co-star Wunmi Mosaku, who was also exposed to one of Davidson’s outbursts, to apologise directly.
She also apologised to Davidson.
Her statement reads in part that the production team “did not hear the n-word at the time it was said and therefore no decision was taken to leave the word within the broadcast.”
The ECU accepted this was a genuine mistake, but said that leaving the coverage on iPlayer was also a “serious mistake” and breached guidelines.
“The fact that the unedited recording remained available for so long aggravated the offence caused by the inadvertent inclusion of the n-word in the broadcast,” the report said.
Part of the fallout: Danny Price’s screenshots of a Google alert on the BAFTA’s racial slur. Image: Instagram
Phillips further explained, “The team did correctly identify and edit out a subsequent use of the same word, in line with the protocols that were agreed in advance of the event regarding offensive and unacceptable language.
“There was a lack of clarity among the team present at the event as to whether the word was audible on the recording. This resulted in there being a delay before the decision was taken to remove the recording from iPlayer.”
She said that the BBC “must learn from our mistakes and ensure our processes are as robust as they can be.”
The fallout from the airing of the moment included an offensive Google alert and weeks of commentary on the moment, from those living with Tourette’s, people in the industry, and those who supported Jordan and Lindo.
Top image: Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo. Source: BBC