BBC says broadcast of racial slur at Baftas was 'genuine mistake'

The BBC has said the broadcast of a racial slur shouted at the Bafta Film Awards ceremony was the result of a "genuine mistake", and is examining why it was not removed from iPlayer sooner.

Tourette's campaigner John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting one of the categories.

The shout was not edited out of the subsequent TV broadcast, which aired on BBC One on a two-hour delay, and the ceremony remained on iPlayer until Monday morning.

Director general Tim Davie said the BBC "profoundly regrets" what happened, adding that the team editing the ceremony had not heard the word and did not intentionally leave it in.

The racial slur was audible to those in attendance and for some viewers at home, although the sound quality was muffled.

"Our initial evidence gathering has found that no-one in the on-site broadcast truck heard this when they were watching the live feed," Davie said in a letter to Dame Caroline Dinenage, the chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

"Because no-one in the broadcast truck was aware it was on the live feed, there was therefore no editorial decision made to leave the language in."

The BBC's chief content officer Kate Phillips previously apologised and told staff that a second racial slur that was heard by the production team had been edited out of the broadcast.

Davie confirmed the second instance of the racial slur being shouted occurred within 10 minutes of the first, when Sinners star Wunmi Wosaku was accepting the best supporting actress prize.

"In that instance, the edit team did hear the racial slur on the feed and removed it immediately from the version of the ceremony that would be broadcast later that evening," Davie said.

"It appears that soon after the second incident, the edit team in the truck started receiving reports, including from Bafta, that a racial slur had been shouted during the ceremony.

"Our understanding at this point is that the team editing the show in the truck mistakenly believed they had edited out the incident that was being referenced, on the basis that they had heard and edited out the slur shouted out during the best supporting actress award.

"Therefore, when they were told a racial slur had been shouted, they believed they had removed it."

Davie also addressed criticism that the Bafta ceremony was not removed from iPlayer until just before midday on Monday morning, when attention was drawn to it by journalists and viewers on the night.

"Following broadcast on BBC One, further reports, including on social media, drew attention to the first instance of the racial slur," Davie acknowledged.

"Our current understanding is that the on-site team did not believe that the slur was audible on the broadcast, and the show remained on iPlayer unedited that evening."

Davie said there had been "further discussion about the incident overnight", before the issue was escalated to Phillips, who authorised the removal of the ceremony from iPlayer.

"We are now looking in more detail why the team did not ascertain sooner that there had been two instances of the use of the racial slur, and why post-broadcast further action was not taken to edit or remove the programme from iPlayer sooner," he said.

Davie said the BBC had learned lessons from the broadcast of Bob Vylan's set at Glastonbury last year, and had additional Editorial Policy staff on shift for the Bafta Film Awards.

He concluded: "The BBC will learn lessons from this incident and ensure appropriate action is taken to avoid such an incident happening again."

Bafta said on 24 February it wanted to "assure all our members that a comprehensive review is under way".

On on 25 February, Davie instructed the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) to "complete a fast-tracked investigation and provide a full response to complainants".

In response to the BBC's letter to Dame Caroline, Phillips told staff: "Once the BBC's ECU investigation has concluded, I'll share more on the outcomes, and any actions we will be taking to strengthen our processes."

In a statement after the ceremony, Bafta said it acknowledged the "harm this has caused, address what happened and apologise to all".

"Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the time, and we apologise unreservedly to them, and to all those impacted. We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism."

Bafta also thanked Davidson for his "dignity and consideration of others, on what should have been a night of celebration for him".

Ceremony host Alan Cumming described the night as "trauma triggering", adding: "We were all let down by decisions made to both broadcast slurs and censor free speech."

In an interview after the Baftas, Davidson has said the BBC should have "worked harder to prevent anything that I said" being broadcast.

He also said he shouted about 10 different offensive words during Sunday's ceremony as a result of his tics, but the media coverage has given the impression the N-word was the only one.

Warner Bros, the studio behind Sinners, reportedly alerted Bafta that the racial slur had happened almost immediately, and asked for it to be removed.

Lindo said he "wished someone from Bafta spoke to us afterwards", and at an awards ceremony last weekend said the Sinners team "appreciated the support" they had received.