‘Bad people’: Alan Cumming criticises Bafta after N-word outburst

Alan Cumming has criticised the organisers of the Bafta film awards in February as “bad people who weren’t doing their jobs properly” after the N-word outburst by Tourette activist John Davidson, which was broadcast by the BBC during its coverage of the ceremony.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Cumming, who was the host of the ceremony, said: “It was bad, bad, bad, bad leadership … Bad people who weren’t doing their jobs properly, who really had not prepared and let people down.”

Davidson, who attended the Baftas as I Swear, the film based on his life story, was nominated for a number of awards, shouted the N-word twice during the ceremony, as well as a slur aimed at Cumming. The BBC’s broadcast remained on BBC iPlayer overnight before the coverage was taken down. The BBC subsequently apologised, as did Bafta.

Describing the event as a “shitshow”, Cumming said he was not fully aware of what had transpired. “I had a thing in my ear and you can’t hear very specifically what’s happening. I haven’t actually asked them, but I don’t imagine that Delroy [Lindo] and Michael B Jordan heard the actual slur either.”

Cumming apologised during the ceremony, saying: “Tourette syndrome is a disability … we apologise if you are offended tonight.” He told the Sunday Times that neither he nor the audience had been warned by Bafta that Davidson might shout offensive slurs. “They just said, ‘There’ll be noise.’ You could say they didn’t know, but they clearly did, because apparently John had said the N-word at a party the day before.”

He added: “It was an international scandal. Then poor John gave this interview saying, ‘I’m not a racist. I called Alan Cumming a paedophile too.’  … Oh great! He’s equal opportunities and my name and ‘paedophile’ were in the same sentences all over the world.”

In an interview with Variety the week after the ceremony, Davidson said, “I can’t begin to explain how upset and distraught I have been as the impact from Sunday sinks in … I want people to know and understand that my tics have absolutely nothing to do with what I think, feel or believe. It’s an involuntary neurological misfire. My tics are not an intention, not a choice and not a reflection of my values.”