BBC apologises after racial slur during Baftas

BBC producers overseeing coverage of the Bafta film awards said yesterday that they did not hear a racial slur mistakenly broadcast on BBC One.

- Michael Savage Andrew Pulver

The corporation also apologised a second time yesterday for leaving the error uncorrected for several hours.

The broadcast containing the N-word remained on BBC iPlayer overnight before coverage was taken down. The BBC apologised and said the show would be reedited.

The Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, said the BBC had made a “horrible mistake” for failing to edit out the word.

It had been said by John Davidson, the Tourette syndrome campaigner, who shouted it as Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan, the stars of the film Sinners, were on stage as they were presenting an award.

It is understood that the producers overseeing the ceremony for the BBC were doing so from a truck and say they simply did not hear the slur. Several other incidents of inappropriate language were cut out, but that moment was missed.

The BBC yesterday issued a second apology for its handling of the incident. “Some viewers may have heard strong and offensive language during the Bafta film awards,” it said. “This arose from involuntary verbal tics associated with Tourette syndrome, and as explained during the ceremony it was not intentional. We apologise that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iPlayer.”