Executive complaints unit finding relates to broadcast of N-word during awards ceremony
The BBC breached its editorial standards by broadcasting a racial slur during the Bafta film awards ceremony in February, the corporation’s executive complaints unit (ECU) has found.
The Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson could be heard shouting the slur as the Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for special visual effects during the ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
The ECU found editorial standards were unintentionally breached by broadcasting the offensive term and by failing to edit it out of the time-delayed showing of the ceremony. A third breach occurred when the word was not removed from the iPlayer version of the programme until the following morning.
The ECU report said: “There was a lack of clarity among the team as to whether the N-word was audible on the recording. This resulted in there being a delay before a decision was taken to remove the recording from iPlayer; that decision was not taken until approximately 9.30 the following morning.
