Bafta Film Awards host Alan Cumming has described this year's ceremony as a "trauma triggering" debacle following a furore that blew up 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."
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."
