It hurt when the N-word was shouted out at the Baftas – because we are also hearing it so much outside | Nadine White

I was disturbed, but I wasn’t shocked. It’s a bigger problem that in these toxic times, so many of us endure this and other slurs in our daily lives

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t the outset of the Baftas, the gilded crowd anticipated historic wins, emotional speeches and enjoying the familiar glow of a cultural institution congratulating itself on progress – whether fully warranted or not.

Then, as proceedings began and as Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo, two of the leading actors of our time, stood on stage, there was the N-word – shouted from the audience by John Davidson, a Tourette syndrome campaigner who also lives with TS and is the inspiration for the Bafta-winning film I Swear.

The BBC later apologised, attributing the outburst to involuntary verbal tics associated with TS and adding that the language was “not intentional”. This is now another very difficult moment for the BBC: what was its judgment, should the epithet have remained audible in a pre-recorded broadcast. Clearly, it should not. One hopes someone will apologise soon to Jordan and Lindo.