BAFTA has apologized “unreservedly” to the Black and disabled communities over the N-word debacle, having identified “a number of structural weaknesses” in its “planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements” before this year’s awards.
At last month’s BAFTA Film Awards, the N-word was yelled unintentionally by Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson at Sinners stars Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan, and later at Best Supporting Actress winner Wunmi Mosaku. The fallout has been far and wide.
The review “did not find evidence of malicious intent on the part of those involved in delivering the event” and said the event was not evidence of “institutional racism.” Instead, it was highly critical of BAFTA’s preparation. In particular, the review from Rise Associates focused on how BAFTA had not appreciated the “nature of the risk associated with a live broadcast appearance, early warning signs were not escalated, and the absence of a clear operational command structure limited BAFTA’s ability to respond effectively once the incident occurred.”
“The review is clear that while this was not a failure of intent, BAFTA’s planning and processes have not kept pace with its diversity and inclusion goals,” said a statement from the BAFTA board of trustees. “We did not adequately anticipate or fully prepare for the impact of such an incident in a live event environment and as a result our duty of care to everyone at the ceremony and watching at home fell short.”
Earlier this week, the BBC ruled that the broadcast of the film awards breached its editorial standards but in a way that was “unintentional.” It also blasted the “serious mistake” of keeping the show up for more than 12 hours on BBC iPlayer before it was eventually removed.
Today, BAFTA said it will take a three-fold approach in future:
- Improving escalation processes and the chain of information sharing around our Awards ceremonies.
- Strengthening how we plan for and deliver access, inclusion and support at our events to adopt a broader intersectional approach so that the needs and experiences of all are properly considered in advance.
- Addressing any internal cultural gaps or lack of knowledge that may prevent BAFTA from meeting its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion across all our work.
The review denied that the event was an example of “institutional racism.” For this to be the case it said racial bias would be built into “systems, policies and cutlure.” “The issues identified in this review are therefore best understood not as a failure of intent, but as evidence that existing systems were not sufficiently robust for the complexity of a modern live broadcast environment,” it added.
The debacle shows that participants’ accessibility needs to be balanced with the “safety and dignity of others in the room,” in this instance being Davidson’s uncontrollable tics balanced with how they may offend others.
The next test for both BAFTA and the BBC comes in a few weeks’ time with the TV Awards, which also air on BBC One and iPlayer.
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