BAFTA has revealed that its investigation into the use of the N-word at this year's award ceremony has found no evidence of racism.
At the 2026 event back in February, Tourette syndrome activist John Davidson involuntarily screamed the N-word when Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindson were on stage presenting an award.
The incident quickly grew to overshadow the event, leaving people to question host Alan Cumming's handling of the situation, and ask how an edited version of the ceremony failed to cut out the racial slur despite a two-hour delay.
In a message shared from BAFTA’s board of trustees to its members on Friday (April 10), the organization claimed that its independent investigation of the situation uncovered a "number of structural weaknesses in BAFTA's planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements," but found no evidence of "malicious intent" or "institutional racism."
"The review is clear that while this was not a failure of intent, BAFTA's planning and processes have not kept pace with its diversity and inclusion goals," the trustees said. "We did not adequately anticipate or fully prepare for the impact of such an incident in a live event environment and as a result our duty of care to everyone at the ceremony and watching at home fell short."
Continuing on, BAFTA said that it "apologizes unreservedly" to the Black community "for whom the racist language used carries real pain, brutality, and trauma" and to the disability community, "including people with Tourette Syndrome, for whom this incident has led to unfair judgement, stigma, and distress," as well as its members, ceremony attendees and those who saw it on TV.
Elsewhere in the note to BAFTA members, the organization announced that it would be improving its "escalation process and the chain of information sharing" at its ceremonies to ensure that situations like that never happen again.
Days after the situation happened, Davison apologized for the moment via a statement on Facebook, saying: "Whilst I will never apologize for having Tourette syndrome, I will apologise for any pain, upset and misunderstanding that it may create. This past week has been tough, and has reminded me that what I do raising awareness for such a misunderstood condition, there is still a long way to go, and I will keep on keeping on until this is achieved."
