There was a wealth of horrible, offensive and thought-provoking commentary on Sunday night’s BAFTA controversy, where Tourette’s awareness advocate John Davidson screamed the n-word at Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo and Hannah Beachler. One of the most thought-provoking arguments I saw is that the BBC and BAFTA aired the n-word without edits because they simply don’t have a problem with it. Like, it’s that simple. They thought it was perfectly fine for someone to scream the n-word at Black artists on stage at the BAFTAs. While Davidson apparently did not apologize to Jordan, Lindo or Beachler personally, he did make a statement 24 hours after the BAFTAs. There’s a huge amount of controversy over BAFTA’s lack of care or concern for the Black artists who had to endure hearing racist slurs at a work event, and BAFTA also took its sweet time releasing a statement and apology too. Additionally, the BBC aired Davidson’s slur at MBJ and Delroy Lindo during their two-hour-delay broadcast. In BAFTA’s statement, they made it sound like they had no idea that this moment would become such a huge controversy. But according to Deadline’s new exclusive, Warner Bros – the studio which released Sinners and is funding Sinners’ awards campaign – immediately brought this issue to BAFTA.
Warner Bros. raised immediate concerns about the involuntary racial slur directed at the stars of Sinners during the BAFTA Film Awards, requesting that the incident be removed from the BBC broadcast, Deadline can reveal.
A well-placed source told Deadline that Warner Bros. executives made a complaint to BAFTA within minutes of Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson‘s N-word verbal tic. This person said the studio received assurances that its concerns would be passed to the BBC and producer Penny Lane TV during the recording of the ceremony, which was broadcast on a two-hour time delay.
The source’s account raises questions about the version of events given by the BBC and Penny Lane, which was that producers in the gallery were not aware of what had been said until it was too late, meaning that the outburst directed at Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo was screened on BBC One.
BAFTA insiders acknowledged that conversations with Warner Bros. took place. Deadline asked BAFTA whether Warner Bros.’ concerns were relayed to the BBC and Penny Lane, but the organization declined to comment. On Monday, BAFTA apologized for the “very offensive language” during the event and said it took “full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation.” BAFTA’s statement did not, however, address why the racial slur wasn’t excised from the BBC broadcast.
Penny Lane declined to comment, but Deadline understands that the production company stands by its position that the crew in the gallery did not hear Davidson’s outburst. The BBC declined to comment, but sources at the broadcaster have supported Penny Lane’s account. Warner Bros. declined to comment.
Warner Bros. is said to be skeptical of the BBC and Penny Lane’s version of events and considers the explanation inadequate, given the gravity of the concerns it raised on the night. Even setting aside Warner’s complaint, sources in the Royal Festival Hall auditorium said Davidson’s interruption was clearly audible in the room, with sources questioning why an urgent message was not sent to the gallery.
“For their story to be true, it means that nobody in the room mentioned it to the BBC or BAFTA in the two hours between the incident and it airing. That’s just not possible,” a senior independent producer told Deadline.
Warner Bros. is understood to have been in contact with BAFTA repeatedly during the evening, making the organization aware of other instances involving Davidson, including unintentional comments made to Sinners‘ production designer Hannah Beachler. A source told Deadline that Warner Bros.’ representations continued after the awards, with executives confronting BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip and chair Sara Putt at the post-show dinner.
The Hollywood studio resumed contact with BAFTA on Monday morning, as the arts charity was drafting a statement, which was eventually released at around 6PM local time. Warner Bros. is also said to have sought talks with the BBC amid alarm that the N-word incident remained on iPlayer, but sources said a meeting did not materialize. The BBC removed the BAFTA Film Awards from iPlayer at around 11.30AM on Monday, nearly 15 hours after it was first broadcast. The ceremony remained unavailable to view on Tuesday morning as the BBC made edits to the tape.
The fact that Warner Bros executives immediately and repeatedly went to BAFTA organizers about the issue also means that BAFTA producers knew that Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo needed to be spoken to, and BAFTA producers refused to do it. Lindo and Jordan were never spoken to directly that night by anyone from BAFTA, there was no personal apology from BAFTA producers, no acknowledgement that they were just racially abused in front of their colleagues. The only thing that happened was that Alan Cumming was sent out to apologize “IF” people were offended. The fact that Warner Bros sources are calling out these Brits as liars and racists is pretty amazing. And accurate.
Note by CB: E! didn’t censor the n-word in their rebroadcast either, and they had all that extra time and warning.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, screencap courtesy of ABC News.
