BAFTA Awards Ceremony Disrupted by Tourette's Syndrome Campaigner Davidson
Earlier, when the show began, Davidson has shouted words such as ‘Boring’ and ‘shut the F*** up’ while the BAFTA chair president Sara Putt was giving her opening speech. In another instance, Davidson was heard shouting expletives, when the makers of the Manipuri film “Boong” reached the stage to accept the award for Best Children’s film
The BAFTA Film Awards ceremony has been in the limelight of controversy over some bad language spoken by John Davidson, suffering from Tourette's syndrome. In the middle of the event, when Sinners stars -- Michael. B zjordan and Delroy lindo, arrived on the stage to present the Best Visual Effects award to Avatar: Fire and Ash, they paused for a brief moment, when they heard Davidson involuntarily yelling the 'N-' word. They were shocked yet remained calm during the event.
Earlier, when the show began, Davidson has shouted words such as ‘Boring’ and ‘shut the F*** up’ while the BAFTA chair president Sara Putt was giving her opening speech. In another instance, Davidson was heard shouting expletives, when the makers of the Manipuri film “Boong” reached the stage to accept the award for Best Children’s film.
Following the disruption, the event’s host Alan Cummings has apologized, “You may have noticed some strong language and slurs in the background. This can be part of how Tourette’s Syndrome which shows up as involuntary tics."
Tourette's Syndrome is a disability and a person suffering from it has no control over their language. John Davidson is the subject of the film “I Swear” and the lead actor Robert Aramayo won the Best Actor and Rising Star awards for portraying Davidson’s character on the screen.
Cumming thanked everybody for their understanding and aid in creating a respectful space for everyone.
Davidson has been a campaigner and raised awareness on the Tourette syndrome among the public. He has also said to BBC that living with Tourette is an awful condition that most of the time he doesn’t want to be at the centre of attention and that he doesn’t want to be noticed by the people only because he’s swearing or shouting.
Even before the event began, the floor manager for BAFTAs has also introduced Davidson to the audiences acknowledging his condition and cautioned, “please be aware you might hear some involuntary noises or movements during the ceremony.” Deadline and Variety reported that Davidson disappeared from the place during the second half of the event.
This article is authored by Yoga Adithya, an intern at Deccan Chronicle, Secunderabad.