The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) has initiated a “fast-tracked investigation” into its Bafta coverage following the broadcast of a racial slur during Sunday night’s ceremony.
The incident, which the corporation labelled a “serious mistake”, involved Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson being heard shouting as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC has been reviewing what happened at Bafta on Sunday evening.
“This was a serious mistake and the director-general has instructed the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to complete a fast-tracked investigation and provide a full response to complainants.”
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she shared the “serious concerns raised by so many people” following the broadcast and had spoken to outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie about the matter.
She added: “I welcome the launch of a full investigation by the BBC. Broadcasting a racial slur is completely unacceptable and harmful.
“The BBC must ensure that this never happens again.”
It comes as the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (CMS) wrote to Davie “seeking an explanation” for how a racial slur ended up in the broadcast “in spite of a two-hour time delay”.
Referencing Glastonbury Festival coverage, chairwoman of the CMS Committee Dame Caroline Dinenage said the “latest incident raises questions about the extent to which lessons have been learned and about the controls and systems you have in place to prevent such incidents”.
Campaigner Davidson was at the Baftas representing the film I Swear, which tells the story of the Scottish campaigner’s life with the condition, which he developed when he was 12.
In an interview with Variety, he said the BBC should have “worked harder” to ensure his racial slur was not broadcast.
He told the publication: “Bafta had made us all aware that any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast.
“I have made four documentaries with the BBC in the past and feel that they should have been aware of what to expect from Tourette’s, and worked harder to prevent anything that I said — which, after all, was some 40 rows back from the stage — from being included in the broadcast.”
Film studio Warner Bros is also believed to have raised immediate concerns about the racial slur and requested it be removed from the BBC broadcast, the Press Association understands, but it could still be heard when it aired two hours later.
The BBC has apologised for not editing the racial slur out of the broadcast and subsequently removed it from the version on iPlayer.
Bafta also issued an apology in the aftermath in which they said they “apologise unreservedly” to the actors who were on stage as well as “all those impacted”.
They added: “During the ceremony, John chose to leave the auditorium and watch the rest of the ceremony from a screen, and we would like to thank him for his dignity and consideration of others on what should have been a night of celebration for him.
“We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all. We will learn from this and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.”
During the broadcast, the awards ceremony’s presenter Alan Cumming also apologised for the language viewers may have heard.
