BBC face ‘furious’ Warner Bros over BAFTAs fuck up

According to Deadline, Warner Bros executives have had a tense meeting with the BBC following their choice to air a racial slur during their broadcast of the BAFTAs. The racial slur refers to the n-word involuntarily shouted by tourettes campaigner John Davidson. The preventable incident triggered deep upset for Black and disabled communities.

The BBC have a lot to answer for over this horrible incident. John Davidson could not control his use of the slur, as involuntary and inappropriate outbursts can occur due to coprolalia, a socially stigmatising symptom of Tourette’s syndrome. Likewise, the pain felt by members of the Black community who heard such a derogatory slur – especially at such a poignant time – cannot be forgotten. Many communities were effectively slapped in the face in the aftermath of this egregious broadcasting failure.

Responsibility instead lies wholly with the BBC, which cut numerous other slurs but chose to keep this one, making what many see as an incredibly divisive and polarising editorial decision by the state broadcaster.

BBC face ‘furious’ Warner Bros

Deadline cite three sources close to the encounter between the BBC and Warner Bros bosses who stated that “grave concerns” were raised about the decision to air the deeply offensive slur. At the meeting, Deadline reported that:

Warner Bros demanded to know what steps the BBC will take to prevent a similar incident from happening again. “They were furious,” said one person briefed on the encounter, which took place last week. Warner executives had initially sought a meeting with the BBC on the Monday following the ceremony, but were left frustrated when the gathering did not materialize.

They added:

Deadline has pieced together different accounts, and it appears as though the incident stemmed from miscommunication on the night. The BBC and producer Penny Lane did not hear the racial slur from their position in the outside broadcast truck, but later caught and cut a second incident, in which Davidson again said the N-word when Sinners star Wunmi Mosaku collected her Supporting Actress prize.

The BBC have since apologised for their failure in a published statement. They said there had been a ‘serious mistake’ and subsequently removed it from iPlayer. Furthermore, they have confirmed their executive complaints team will conduct a ‘fast-tracked investigation’ into the incident with the broadcaster once again marking its own homework.

However, the BBC team’s excuse for the ‘miscommunication’ falls flat. They pointed to another incident where Davidson directed the slur at Wunmi Mosaku during her Sinners award acceptance, claiming they thought this was the incident in question. Apparently, removing one n-word slur proves they recognised its harm and heeded Warner Bros’ request to cut it. They just didn’t notice the other one, ‘whoopsie daisy’ say the BBC.

On the other hand, this could indicate that no one at BAFTA, BBC or Penny Lane Studios really saw the incident as significantly offensive or upsetting to warrant removal. After all, surely this pretty notable incident would have stuck in some minds at the very least if they had.

Deadline further reported that Warner Bros and the BBC held discussions immediately after the BAFTAs and agreed to remove it from iPlayer. They recognised that the slur had been missed by producer Penny Lane as soon as it went live. But, yet again, the BBC were rather disingenuous in their feigned horror given it stayed up until midday the following day. This gave ample time for division to mount, leaving various already embattled communities once again feeling appalled.

It is difficult to get away from the allegation that the BBC team were aware of this specific n-word incident and simply saw more value in airing it. After all, they managed to catch other slurs from Davidson on the night. And, on one of the biggest nights in British television it is entirely unacceptable that someone from the team simply didn’t hear the slur.

Stolen moment

Nevertheless, we cannot ignore that the actions taken to address the harm caused have simply ended up reducing coverage of what should have been a powerful moment for disabled and Black communities.

Both groups lost vital and long-overdue visibility that signaled significant progress in the industry. After all, people with Tourette’s often face exclusion due to the social stigma surrounding their condition, while BAFTA made history as Sinners’ Ryan Coogler became the first Black director to win – earning 13 nominations for the Jim Crow-era horror film. All whilst racism and bigotry are rising just as quickly as Reform and Restore’s pockets get ever heavier.

Thus, multiple communities have been utterly failed by the BBC.

Humility and accountability, not evasion.

Pretending this was an oversight or accident simply does not cut it. The timelines from meetings and conversations between Warner Bros and the BBC show the varying responses. By all accounts, Warner Bros were furious. Meanwhile, the BBC have dragged their feet and failed to respond adequately.

The fact the ceremony is still not available on iPlayer says it all: a night that should have celebrated the massively long-overdue appreciation of multiple marginalised communities has still not been rectified.

Featured image via screenshot