The BBC breached its editorial standards when it broadcast a racial slur during its coverage of the 2026 Bafta Film Awards, an investigation has found.
The corporation said it received a large number of complaints after disability campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette’s, could be heard shouting as Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects during the ceremony on 22 February.
An investigation by the BBC’s executive complaints unit (ECU) found the inclusion of the slur was “highly offensive” and “had no editorial justification”, but it added that broadcasting it was unintentional.
The findings went on to say the slur should have been edited out of the version of coverage available on iPlayer when the event finished, but said a delay of several hours was caused by “a lack of clarity among the team as to whether the n-word was audible on the recording”.
The ECU added that the delay was “a serious mistake, because there could be no certainty that the word would be inaudible to all viewers”.
The report said: “The ECU accepted their account (that the word was broadcast by mistake), for two reasons. Firstly, the use of the n-word in that instance was extremely indistinct, to the point where it might well not have been recognised by the production team.
“Secondly, there was another occurrence of the n-word about 10 minutes later, which was recognised by the production team and immediately edited out in accordance with the protocols on offensive language which were in place.
“There is no reason to conclude they would have applied the protocols in one case while deliberately ignoring them in the other.”
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The report confirmed the BBC’s chief content officer has sent letters of apology to Lindo, Jordan and Davidson.
Coverage went out on the BBC on a two-hour time delay, with the final programme edited down from the three-hour ceremony.
At the time, then director-general Tim Davie said the BBC “profoundly regrets” the incident and that it was “a genuine mistake” which “should never have been broadcast”.
Davidson, who was at the ceremony to celebrate a film about his life called I Swear, said the BBC should have “worked harder” to ensure his racial slur was not broadcast, telling US entertainment magazine Variety he “had an expectation that the BBC would physically control the sound” at the event.
I Swear won three awards at the ceremony – Best Leading Actor and Rising Star for actor Robert Aramayo, who plays Davidson, and Best Casting.
The BBC was also accused of breaching editorial standards by editing out “free Palestine” from the acceptance speech of Outstanding Debut winner Akinola Davies Jr at the ceremony in February.
Although the Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) report found Mr Davies had a right to express his views, the removal of the words “did not hinge on the considerations of impartiality”.
The report said: “The principal consideration was that approximately three hours of recorded material had to be edited to fit a two-hour transmission slot.
“The priority in the editing was to focus on the main thrust of the event, namely the content being celebrated.
“As is usual in coverage of events of this kind, cuts were made in some of the longer acceptance speeches, including that of Mr Davies.”
The report added: “It appeared to the ECU that the content of what was cut from Mr Davies’ speech played no part in the decision to edit it except to the extent that it was remote from the event’s main thrust and the likely focus of the audience’s interest.”
