BBC apologises to staff over N-word inclusion as Bafta announces comprehensive review | Baftas 2026
A senior BBC executive has apologized to staff for the company’s failure to edit out a racist slur in Sunday’s Bafta film awards broadcast. In a memo sent on Tuesday and seen by the Press Association, chief content officer Kate Phillips told staff she was “very sorry that a racist slur was not removed from our publication” and that she understood “how upsetting this is”.
Tourette syndrome advocate John Davidson was heard shouting the N-word as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Phillips reiterated the BBC’s earlier apologies on Monday, saying presenter Alan Cumming had addressed the possibility of involuntary verbal tics during broadcast, but acknowledged this “did not lessen the impact and distress”.
“The editing team removed another racial slur from the broadcast,” he wrote. “This was published by mistake and we would never knowingly allow this to be published.
“We take full responsibility for what happened,” he added, adding, “When I found out it could be heard on iPlayer, I asked for it to be removed.”
The BBC removed the original broadcast from its website at midday on Monday after the backlash grew.
There is still significant confusion regarding the circumstances in which the word was included. The BBC said yesterday that its producers had not heard the N-word when editing the program to be broadcast two hours after the live event, with a source telling the Guardian they were “working from a lorry”.
On Tuesday, Sinners studio Warner Bros said it had immediately notified Bafta of its concerns during the ceremony and had been assured that the request would be passed on to the BBC and the racist slur would be removed from broadcast.
In a letter apologizing to members on Tuesday, Bafta executives said a “comprehensive review” was currently ongoing. “We recognize that this impacts members in many ways,” the letter said. “We want to acknowledge the harm this has caused, address what happened and apologize to everyone.”
Bafta’s chairman Sara Putt and chief executive Jane Millichip quoted part of a lengthy statement Bafta published on Monday evening in which they attempted to contextualise the situation and said they took “full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation”. They also apologized unreservedly to Lindo and Jordan.
Speaking to a Vanity Fair reporter at Bafta’s end-of-event party late on Sunday, Lindo said he wished “someone from Bafta would talk to us later”. On Monday night, Davidson said he would be “deeply embarrassed if anyone thought my involuntary tics were intentional or had any meaning.”
Putt was among the hosts and winners who took the stage as Davidson shouted verbal tics. Others included Cumming and the filmmakers behind family movie winner Boong.
In the days after the incident, anger over the two bodies grew. On Monday, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the BBC had made a “terrible mistake”, while on Tuesday Labor MP Dawn Butler accused the BBC of “blatant bias” and a “failure to fulfill its duty of care”.
Butler also described the broadcast as “painful and inexcusable” and said he had written to outgoing chief executive Tim Davie to demand an “urgent explanation”.
Filmmaker Jonte Richardson described Bafta’s handling of the events as “completely inexcusable” and announced he was resigning as a Bafta jury member.
“I hope Bafta leaders recognize the damage they and the BBC have caused and take the necessary steps to ensure production staff are inclusive enough to prevent such an issue in the future.”
Google, meanwhile, apologized for an AI-generated prompt that invited users to “See more” of the N-word, along with a link to an article about the incident.
A Google spokesperson told the Guardian that the company was “deeply sorry for this error. We have removed the offending notification and are working to prevent this from happening again.”
