Delroy Lindo said he hoped to speak with someone from the BAFTA awards after a man with Tourette’s syndrome shouted the N-word while he and Michael B. Jordan were on stage Sunday night.
Lindo, 73, told Vanity Fair he and Jordan “did what we had to do” while presenting the award, but he still wished “someone from BAFTA spoke to us afterward.”
The two “Sinners” stars were presenting the award for Best Visual Effects when John Davidson shouted the racial slur from the audience. It was also picked up on broadcast mics.
Davidson, 54, was attending the ceremony at the invitation of BAFTA organizers. He was the inspiration for the film “I Swear,” which won three awards during the ceremony.
First diagnosed with Tourette’s at age 25, Davidson is a prominent activist for those with the disorder in the U.K. His story first went public back in 1989, in a documentary titled “John’s Not Mad.”
Davidson also had other outbursts during the ceremony. He yelled, “Shut the f–k up” while BAFTA chair Sara Putt was speaking and “f–k you” at the winners of Best Children’s and Family Film. He left of his own accord during the second half of the program, according to reports.
“Tourette’s Syndrome is a disability, and the tics you’ve heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette’s Syndrome has no control over their language,” host Alan Cumming said. “We apologize if you are offended tonight.”
“Sinners” production designer Hannah Beachler said the outbursts captured on the broadcast weren’t the only ones heard throughout the night.
“The situation is almost impossible, but it happened three times that night, and one of the three times was directed at myself on the way to dinner after the show,” Beachler wrote on social media. “Of course we were offended…but our frequency, our spiritual vibration is tuned to a higher level than what happened. I am not [steel], this did not bounce off of me, but I exist above it. It can’t take away from who I am as an artist.”
