The BAFTAs broadcast a racial slur into living rooms across the country on Sunday night but this wasn’t an inevitable risk of live TV, this was completely preventable.

Listen to this article

Although the BAFTAs may seem to follow a live TV format, the ceremony itself was pre-recorded, with a two-hour delay, and an edit team that we know was actively reviewing the content.

The reason we know they were already actively moderating the content broadcast is because pro-Palestine comments made during the ceremony were removed before it aired. The slur wasn’t. It went out and it stayed on iPlayer until Monday morning.

This was a serious error of judgment on the part of the BBC and a real PR misstep.

And here’s what makes it worse. The live audience at the Royal Festival Hall had been briefed before the ceremony began that John Davidson, who has Tourette’s syndrome, was in the audience and might shout inappropriate language.

The TV broadcast has no such preparation - not only did the BBC fail to edit out the slur, but they also failed to include any version of that forewarning for viewers at home. So, the millions of people watching on television got neither the context nor the protection that the people in the room received.

There are really only two explanations for why the BBC left it in. Either they missed it, which is a serious editorial failure for a pre-recorded broadcast with a two-hour window and a team actively reviewing content. Or they made a conscious decision to leave it in. Perhaps because they didn’t want to be seen censoring a disabled person.

But while that second explanation may seem to have good intentions behind it, in reality, it just doesn’t cut it.

If they had removed that racial slur, they wouldn’t have been censoring a disabled person. They would have been editing out an involuntary tic - something Davidson himself has described as a symptom that has made his life deeply challenging, and something he has spent his life helping others understand.

The tic wasn’t a statement, it wasn’t an opinion and it carried no intent. Editing it out would not have silenced him, it would have protected him.

Davidson was so aware of the distress his tics were causing that he made the decision to leave the auditorium early. He did that to protect others. The BBC had a two-hour window, the tools, and the team in place to extend him the same consideration, but they chose against it.

The BBC have since apologised, saying they regret that the moment was not edited out prior to broadcast and have removed it from BBC iPlayer, but they failed to explain why it wasn’t done in the first place. This comes across as damage control, rather than accountability.

A BAFTA judge has now said he will step down over the organisation’s handling of the incident. The New Black Film Collective and MP Dawn Butler have both criticised the BBC’s failure to act. The story isn’t going away - and an apology with no explanation doesn’t cut it.

The only silver lining is that it has got people talking about Tourette’s, which is something Davidson has dedicated his life to. But he came to the BAFTAs to celebrate a film about his own life, felt genuinely welcomed by the room, and still ended up at the centre of a national story he never asked for and did everything in his power to avoid.

Luana Ribeira is a PR expert, speaker, actress and founder of Dauntless PR.

LBC Opinion provides a platform for diverse opinions on current affairs and matters of public interest.

The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official LBC position.

To contact us email opinion@lbc.co.uk

© LBC