Alan Cumming Apologizes for a ‘Trauma Triggering’ BAFTAs

Alan Cumming issued a second apology for last week’s BAFTAs nightmare. “It’s now a week since I hosted the BAFTAs. What should have been an evening celebrating creativity as well as diversity and inclusion turned into a trauma triggering shitshow,” he began in a statement posted on Instagram on March 2. “I’m so sorry for all the pain Black people have felt at hearing that word echoed round the world. I’m so sorry the Tourettes community has been reminded of the lack of understanding and tolerance that abounds regarding their condition.” He then hoped that something positive could come from this incident. “The only possible good that could come of this is a reminder that words matter, that rushing to judgement about things of which we are not fully cognisant is folly, that all trauma must be recognised and honoured,” he added. “We were all let down by decisions made to both broadcast slurs and censor free speech.”

During the show, Tourette’s advocate and inspiration for the movie, I Swear, John Davidson shouted the N-word at Michael B. Jordan and Delory Lindo when they were on stage; it was a tic from his Tourette’s, and he left shortly after the incident. Alan Cumming, host of this year’s BAFTAs, said a short apology on behalf of the show, which included an explanation of the condition: “Tourette’s syndrome is a disability, and the tics you have heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette’s syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you were offended.” BAFTA reportedly warned the BBC about the offensive language, and the BBC called the failure to remove the racial slur a “serious mistake.”

Since last week, a judge has left the BAFTAs, SNL made a sketch about the incident that a Tourette’s activist group called “unacceptable,” and Sinners star Jayme Lawson called the organization exploitative.

Below is Cumming’s full statement and apology.