Comedian and actor Deon Cole has addressed growing backlash to a controversial joke he made about John Davidson’s involuntary racial slur at the Baftas.
Cole, whose credits include the sitcom black-ish, hosted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Awards on Saturday (28 February), and brought up the incident in which Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome, shouted a slur while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.
“If there are any white men in the room with Tourette's, I advise you to tell them to read the room, lord,” Cole said in a mock prayer, adding: “It might not go the way they thinketh. Whatever medicine they on, they better double up on it, lord."
The joke was met with initial gasps before the crowd laughed and applauded the quip.
After the joke went viral on social media, Cole was criticised by many for mocking Davidson, whose struggles with Tourettes since childhood are at the centre of acclaimed biopic I Swear, which is being added to Netflix UK this month. In the aftermath of the Baftas, Davidson said he was “deeply mortified” if anyone felt the racial slur had been intentional.
One person who praised Cole’s stint as host, though, was actor Jamie Foxx, who shared a clip of his joke about Davidson on Instagram with the caption: “@deoncole … brilliant!! You funny af all the time!!!”
Cole, addressing the furore his joke caused, replied: “Appreciate u king. People got to learn how to take a joke. It's all in fun.”
Davidson suffers from coprolalia, a version of Tourette’s which involves involuntary swearing or making socially inappropriate remarks.
During the Baftas, he chose to leave the auditorium shortly after realising that Jordan and Lindo had heard his tic from the stage. He also said he involuntarily made several offensive remarks that weren’t just racial.
Cole’s joke was met with outrage from those who said he was mocking Davidson’s Tourette syndrome.
“Making fun of people with disabilities is not funny,” one person wrote on X/Twitter, with another claiming to be Davidson’s friend stating: “I’m absolutely f***ing disgusted watching my friend be targeted like this. The pile on and continued bullying of a disabled working class man is repugnant enough, but for SNL and Deon Cole to jump in and kick him while he’s already down is just vile. That’s not comedy, it’s cowardly, punch down bulls*** aimed at someone with a neurological condition he cannot control.”
This comment was referencing US show Saturday Night Live, which released a sketch showing cast members playing controversial celebrities, including Mel Gibson, JK Rowling, Bill Cosby and Kanye West, who all inexplicably claim Tourette’s is to blame for their problematic behaviour.
At the NAACP Image Awards, Lindo acknowledged the outpouring of support he had received following the Baftas.
“I’d just like to officially say, we appreciate all the support and love we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend. It means a lot to us,” the Oscar-nominated actor said.
“It is an honour to be here amongst our people this evening, amongst so many people who have shown us such incredible support. And it's a classic case of something that could be very negative becoming very positive.”
The BBC received heavy criticism for airing the slur, despite the fact it had occurred two hours before. A BBC spokesperson 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.
“We apologise that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it has been removed from BBC iPlayer.”
In an internal memo, BBC staff were also told that the slur had aired “in error” as producers had not heard the word, and that another had been cut from the broadcast.
Bafta also apologised, saying that a “comprehensive review” was underway and that they took “full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation”. They also apologised to Lindo and Jordan.
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