BBC faces further humiliation as two stars slam broadcaster on its own show
They unleashed a blistering critique of the BBC.
The BBC has come under fire from two news editors who slammed the broadcaster's handling of the incident at the BAFTA Film Awards. During Sunday's ceremony, when Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage presenting the award for Best Visual Effects, a racial slur was shouted from the audience. The slur was said by John Davidson – a Tourette's campaigner and inspiration behind the film, I Swear. Although the BBC One broadcast was shown on a two-hour delay, the moment was not edited out and it remained on BBC iPlayer until the following morning before the entire ceremony was eventually removed.
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." On BBC Radio 4's Today show, host Emma Barnett likened the situation to what happened last year at Glastonbury. She said: "'I deeply regret that such offensive and deplorable behaviour appeared on the BBC', the words of BBC Director General Tim Davie last year after Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set was broadcast despite what was characterised as antisemetic comments.
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"The BBC has been apologising again this week after failing to edit out a racial slur shouted by John Davidson in an involuntary tic associated with Tourette's syndrome from its BAFTA ceremony coverage. Antisemitism, racial slurs, what's going on?"
Emma was eager to ask a BBC employee whether there was a written plan to prevent John Davidson’s words from being picked up by microphones, or if they would be timecoded and edited out, however, the BBC declined the interview.
Instead, the press office pointed to its statement apologising and the fact that it had removed the slur from BBC iPlayer. Emma and her co-host Justin Webb were joined by former Head of News and Current at Channel 4 Dorothy Byrne and Sir Craig Oliver, former senior editor at BBC News.
Dorothy, 73, did not hold back in her blistering verdict on the BBC, saying: "This was a predictable risk so BAFTA and the BBC needed a written plan. I don't think there was one.
"John Davidson himself has said that there was a microphone just in front of him and he said very politely, 'I have to question whether this was wise.' Well John, you're right there. That was not wise."
She continued: "John also needed a BBC person next to him at all times to support him but also to relay and be aware of anything that he said. So there needed to be, in the written plan, a means by which the people in the truck would be aware of what had happened in the room.
"But in the room we also had lots of BBC executives and whenever anything goes wrong at the BBC, there are always lots of BBC executives involved, so why did none of them relay what happened in the room?
"They had two hours before this was broadcast, how on earth was nothing done in those two hours? Why did it stay up on iPlayer and why did it take them so long to put out a statement."
Dorothy added: "Now they say they're going to have an investigation. The whole thing is ridiculous and it's such a shame for John Davidson, who's such an outstanding person and has ended up saying he was mortified.
"It was such a shame for those two brilliant actors whose film was fantastic."
When asked if the way the incident was handled was down to incompetence, Dorothy said: "Yes. They are always in react mode and they don't appear to make proper written plans to mitigate risks. The other thing that you see again and again is no clear line of command and control
"I've never worked for the BBC. There are always so many people involved but no one clearly in charge."
Craig also criticised the BBC's handling of the situation, pointing out that the racial slur remained on iPlayer despite requests to remove it from the production company behind Jordan and Lindo's film, Sinners.
He said: "You can see the confusion in the response. Some swearing was edited out, a racial slur was edited out and then moved.
"Apparently the production company behind the film that Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo was involved with said, 'Could you please take it out?' But it remained on the iPlayer.
"I think that is what's extraordinary is if you're suggesting 'we didn't have a set up where the people in the truck who were editing couldn't hear what was going on.' You're king of entering the dog ate my homework territory."
The 56-year-old questioned the BBC's oversight, suggesting a lack of control over managing situations at live events which ultimately risks the broadcaster's reputation.
He added: "The thing that keeps happening here is is there a grip? Is there a plan? It is increasingly obvious that we live in a time where there are going to be controversial things at live events and there is going to be potential reputational damage to the BBC.
"Does it have that grip? Does it have that process in place? It seems increasingly that the answer is no."
In another brutal blow to the organisation, Dorothy explained why she would never work for the BBC. "I think they've already got too many people working there on making a mess of things," she said.
Last year, the BBC failed to remove Bob Vylan's Glastonbury performance from iPlayer. The Rap punk act led a crowd in chants of "Free, free Palestine" and "Death, death to the IDF" (Israel Defence Forces) during their set at the festival in June.
After being made aware of the chants, BBC's director general at the time Tim Davie said the performance should not be made available on demand. However, the live stream remained on BBC iPlayer for a further five hours, sparking outrage and ultimately leading to Davie’s resignation.
