John Davidson has Tourette’s Syndrome(Image: Max Cisotti/Dave Benett/Getty Im)
John Davidson, the Tourette’s Syndrome activist whose life inspired the BAFTA winning film I Swear, has revealed that he was once beaten to within an inch of his life because of his condition. Davidson and Tourette’s Syndrome have been thrust into the limelight after the BAFTA Film Awards where his involuntary vocal tics caused him to shout several slurs at guests and presenters.
The activist was attending the awards as I Swear was nominated in several categories. As such, guests had been warned beforehand that Davidson has Tourette’s and part of his condition is coprolalia – the involuntary and uncontrollable use of obscene and offensive phrases. Guests were made aware that they may hear slurs from Davidson but that his tics are in no way a reflection of his actual views or beliefs and he was unable to control them from coming out.
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During the ceremony, Davidson did shout several slurs, including the N-word, which was shouted whilst Sinners actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage. Immediately after the incident, which was aired by the BBC in their initial coverage, Davidson left the ceremony to avoid causing further distress. His team later revealed that he also reached out to the studio handling Sinners in order to directly apologise to Jordan, Lindo and production designer Hannah Beachler, whom he had also shouted the slur at.
The incident has become the subject of intense public discourse. In an interview with Variety, Davidson has opened up about what it is really like to live with coprolalia, something only 10-30% of people with Tourette’s have, and revealed that he had been beaten to “within an inch” of his life because of the condition.
“I have been physically beaten to within an inch of my life with an iron bar after ticking a comment to a young woman whose boyfriend and accomplice ambushed me one evening,” he explained.
The moment he referred to was included in the biopic about his life. In the film, though he immediately apologised and explained his condition, the woman did not believe him and Davidson subsequently ended up in hospital with a neck brace.
Davidson added that the real challenge was not the tics but the “misconceptions surrounding them”. He said that when he involuntarily says something offensive, “the guilt and shame” is “unbearable”. He added that he “can’t begin to explain how upset and distraught” he has been since the BAFTAs and following the continued impact of what happened.
He was also clear that his tics have “absolutely nothing to do with what I think, feel or believe” and that it is not his intention or choice to say them.
Finally, he said that he was told that any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast. The BAFTAs were taped and then aired on the BBC after a delay of a few hours. This meant that though the ceremony was still happening when the coverage started on the BBC, it was not live and could have been edited in the hours that had passed. While the BBC did not edit out Davidson’s tics, they did edit out Akinola Davies Jr saying “Free Palestine”.
After the ceremony, a BBC spokesperson said: “We apologise that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iPlayer.”
In its statement, the broadcaster later said: “Some viewers may have heard strong and offensive language during the BAFTA Film Awards. This arose from involuntary verbal tics associated with Tourette syndrome, and as explained during the ceremony it was not intentional.”
Lindo also told Vanity Fair that he and Jordan “did what we had to do” when they heard the slur from the stage and carried on presenting the award, which was for visual effects. He also said he wished “someone from BAFTA spoke to us afterward”.
BAFTA later said they acknowledged the “harm this has caused” and that they wanted to “apologise to all”. Their statement read: “Early in the ceremony a loud tic in the form of a profoundly offensive term was heard by many people in the room.
“Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage at the time, and we apologise unreservedly to them, and to all those impacted. We would like to thank Michael and Delroy for their incredible dignity and professionalism.”
They added: “We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologise to all. We will learn from this and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.”
During the show, host Alan Cumming apologised to the audience and viewers at home if they had heard any language that may have offended them. Hannah Beachler later took to X to share how she felt about the situation.
“The situation is almost impossible, but it happened 3 times that night, and one of the three times was directed at myself on the way to dinner after the show,” she wrote.
“I understand and deeply know why this is an impossible situation. I know we must handle this with grace and continue to push through. But what made the situation worse was the throw away apology of ‘if you were offended’ at the end of the show. Of course we were offended.”
