An internal report found staff uncertainty and slow decision-making worsened the impact of the broadcast error.
The BBC breached its own editorial standards by broadcasting a racial slur during the BAFTA awards ceremony, an internal probe found Wednesday.
The finding follows a “fast-tracked” investigation ordered by former Director-General Tim Davie into the “serious mistake” that saw the racist slur aired during the event in late February.
Involuntary tic sparks controversy
Tourette’s sufferer John Davidson, who inspired one of the winning films, later said he was “deeply mortified” after shouting the N-word at the London film and television awards ceremony, which he said was caused by an “involuntary tic”.
According to the investigation report, there was a “lack of clarity” among staff handling the broadcast, which was aired slightly later than the start of the ceremony, about whether the N-word was audible on the recording.
“This resulted in there being a delay before a decision was taken to remove the recording from iPlayer,” it said, adding this did not happen until around 9:30am the following day.
“This delay was a serious mistake, because there could be no certainty that the word would be inaudible to all viewers,” it added.
Incident adds to mounting controversies
The incident was the latest in a string of controversies to hit the BBC.
In June 2025 during the BBC’s Glastonbury festival coverage, staff failed to pull a livestream of a performance by Bob Vylan after the punk-rap duo’s frontman led the crowds in an anti-Israel chant.
The BBC later apologised and said it would no longer live-broadcast musical performances it deemed to be “high risk”.
Incident adds to mounting controversies
In another damaging episode, Davie left the BBC last week after resigning in November over the editing of a documentary about US President Donald Trump.
The president has filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over the edit for its flagship current affairs programme “Panorama”.
Trump alleges the editing of his January 6, 2021 speech made it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
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