Saturday Night Live is receiving backlash for its “shameful” sketch about the racial slur incident at last weekend’s Baftas.
Last month, Scottish campaigner John Davidson, who has Tourette syndrome, shouted a racial slur while actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan were presenting an award, and the BBC later broadcast the pre-recorded moment, which had happened two hours earlier.
The moment sparked widespread debate, with Davidson, whose life inspired the film I Swear, stating he was “upset and distraught” by the situation and was allegedly told that any offensive involuntary tics would be cut from the broadcast.
SNL, which was hosted by Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie, poked fun at the subject with a controversial sketch that was released online after being edited out of the latest episode due to time constraints.
It features the sketch show’s 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.
“I’m Mel Gibson, and as I probably should have pointed out decades ago, I too suffer from Tourette’s which explains a lot of the things I’ve said or yelled through the years,” Andrew Dismukes said in character as Braveheart star Gibson. In the past, Gibson has made racist, antisemitic, and homophobic comments, which he has apologised for.
Ashley Padilla said while playing Harry Potter author Rowling: “Tourette’s isn’t just blurting out an offensive word. It can be a years-long obsession with something like trans life and a deep anger that someone who was born with a wand in their pants would want that one removed and replaced with a Horcrux.” Rowling has faced significant backlash for her remarks on the transgender community.
Kenan Thompson played Cosby, who has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment by more than 60 women, all of which he has denied. In the sketch, Thompson, as Cosby, said he suffers from “something called the drink Tourette’s”, while rapper West, now known as Ye, said he has “three different kinds of Tourette’s”.
West recently wrote an open letter claiming that neurological damage caused by a near-fatal 2002 car crash was responsible for his concerning behaviour in recent years, which has included public antisemitic rants.
The fake PSA in the sketch said it was “brought to you by National Workforce of Rethinking Disabilities, or N.W.O.R.D.” – a direct reference to Davidon’s involuntary tic.
Lewis Goodall, host of The News Agents, podcast, condemned the sketch as “genuinely shameful”, with comedian Al Murray calling it “vile”.
Goodall added on X: “The joke is basically nothing more sophisticated than ‘people with serious disabilities make it up.’ That’s before they compare a disabled man, mocked his entire life, to Bill Cosby. Whole thing deserves to become infamous.”
The Independent’s DC bureau chief Eric Michael Garcia added: “This is honestly gross and punching down in the worst possible way. And ironically, it proves the necessity for the work people like John Davidson do to erase stigma around Tourette’s.”
Another chimed in on X: “This is poor. The implicit premise is that people with Tourette’s are just using it as an excuse. That’s literally the error of perception the film was trying to correct. Shameful.”
Others jumped to the defence of the sketch, claiming that it was trying to send up the celebrities by inexplicably using Tourette’s as an excuse for their behaviour, alleged or otherwise.
But the overwhelming consensus is that the sketch makes a mockery of a subject that has left a person with Tourette’s feeling “mortified”.
“I love SNL and I'm so disappointed. How can people truly lack that amount of knowledge, compassion and understanding? I really hope John Davison never ever sees this,” one viewer posted.
The Independent has contacted NBC for comment.
Davidson suffers from coprolalia, a version of Tourette’s which involves involuntary cursing or making socially inappropriate remarks. During the Baftas, he chose to leave the auditorium shortly after realising that Lindo and Jordan had heard his tic from the stage. He also said he involuntarily made several offensive remarks that weren’t just racial.
Following the event, 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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