Saw this regarding what happened at the BAFTAs and it seems a common question being asked by white folks who weren’t harmed by what was said.
The BAFTAs aren’t live; there was a two hour delay between the live ceremony and when it was on air. The producers could’ve edited out what was said so that no further harm was spread, but they chose not to. (A winner said “free Palestine” during their acceptance speech, and it was edited out, so we know their equipment was functioning just fine.)
The in-person and viewing audiences being made aware that some outbursts might occur is great. But Alan Cumming should have also been directed to apologize on behalf of the BAFTAs to Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo at the same time he thanks the audience for their understanding.
John Davidson appears to have the kind of Tourette’s that includes something called coprolalia (I’ve never heard of him prior to today, so I’m going with the assumption instead of stating it as fact). According to Wikipedia, only about 10% of people with Tourette’s have coprolalia. I think that dispels the idea that Tourette’s is only coprolalia, so folks can’t pull a Cartman.
That said, if John Davidson knows he has coprolalia and that there’s a possibility of him screaming N1GG3R loud enough to be caught on the broadcast, maybe he should have done something else to stop that from happening (leaving the room is the first thing that comes to mind, but I imagine that similar to other involuntary actions, he knows if certain things trigger his tics and which tics in particular so he has a better idea than I would if leaving the room would be ideal in this situation or if there’s something else). Or, at least apologized. Not for his disability, but for the harm caused by his disability. Because his disability doesn’t negate the harm.
The apology from John Davidson could be as simple as, “I apologize to Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo for my involuntary outburst during their BAFTA presentation. Coprolalia can mean that I say some of the most horrific things without control or without meaning them, and I’m sorry it happened during such a special moment for them.” No one is asking for him to do a lot; a sincere apology can go a long way.
But all of this “well he’s got Tourette’s, think of how bad he feels” bullshit isn’t working. Two things can be true at once: he can have coprolalia Tourette’s and he can have caused harm. The harm is what he should apologize for, and the BAFTAs should apologize for the harm as well since they made the choice to have Alan Cumming thank the audience for their understanding, but not otherwise acknowledge what happened. They also need to apologize for not editing it out of the broadcast, even though they had ample opportunity to do so, because that caused further harm to the two men and harm to every other Black person who has heard it. (Here’s my preemptive STFU to all the “it didn’t offend me” Black folks. Nobody is talking to or about you.)
