Alan Cumming Apologises for Bafta Ceremony Incident
Bafta Film Awards host Alan Cumming has described this year's ceremony as a "trauma triggering" debacle following controversy that arose after a Tourette's campaigner involuntarily shouted a racial slur while two Black actors were on stage.
Posting on Instagram, Cumming said:
"I'm so sorry for all the pain Black people have felt hearing the word echoed around the world. I'm so sorry the Tourettes community has been reminded of the lack of understanding and tolerance that abounds regarding their condition."
He added:
"We were all let down by decisions made to both broadcast slurs and censor free speech."
Broadcast and Investigation
The slur was audible when the BBC broadcast the ceremony on a two-hour delay, and the corporation's executive complaints unit is now investigating.
Cumming wrote:
"The only possible good that could come of this is a reminder that words matter, that rushing to judgement about things that we are not fully cognisant is folly, that all trauma should be recognised and honoured."
He also congratulated:
"all the artists whose work was overshadowed by the night's events".
BBC and Bafta Responses
The BBC has issued multiple apologies since the broadcast on 22 February, and the ceremony remains unavailable to watch on after being removed the following day.
In a statement issued on the same day, Bafta said it wanted to acknowledge the "harm this has caused, address what happened and apologise to all".
Cumming had already apologised to the audience from the stage during the ceremony for the language heard.
The BBC has since stated that a second racial slur was edited out of the show, and that broadcasting the one aired when Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage was a "serious mistake".
Reactions from Those Involved
Davidson, from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, has said the BBC should have "worked harder to prevent anything that I said" from being broadcast.
Meanwhile, Lindo told Vanity Fair that he and Jordan "did what we had to do" as they carried on presenting the category, but also expressed that he wished "someone from Bafta spoke to us afterward".
