Bafta has issued an apology following an independent review that identified significant organisational shortcomings in how the film academy handled a Tourette’s-related incident at this year’s awards ceremony.Executive producer and Tourette’s activist John Davidson, who attended the ceremony after his film I Swear won a Bafta, involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.Despite a two-hour tape delay, the incident made it to air on national television, sparking weeks of widespread discussion and media coverage.Davidson himself said in the aftermath that he was “deeply mortified” if anyone believed his tics were deliberate, and contacted the actors personally to apologise.The review, commissioned by the Bafta board, found “a number of structural weaknesses in Bafta’s planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements”.It specifically concluded that “the organisation did not fully appreciate 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”.Investigators found no evidence of “malicious intent” on the part of those involved in staging the event.”We apologise unreservedly to the Black community, for whom the racist language used carries real pain, brutality, and trauma; to the disability community, including people with Tourette syndrome (TS), for whom this incident has led to unfair judgement, stigma, and distress; and to all our members, guests at the ceremony and those watching at home. What was supposed to be a moment of celebration was diminished and overshadowed,” reads the apology.Questions remain over why the footage of the incident continued to be available on BBC iPlayer for 15 hours after the ceremony.Davidson, speaking separately to Variety, was keen to address the incident directly: “I want to be really clear that the intent behind them [the tics] is zero. What you’re hearing is a symptom – not my character, not my thought, not my belief.”He went on to describe the nature of his condition: “Tourette’s can feel spiteful and searches out the most upsetting tic for me personally and for those around me. What you hear me shouting is literally the last thing in the world I believe; it is the opposite of what I believe.”