Impact, not intent
If you've been on social media for the past two days, you know what happened at the BAFTA awards on Sunday. As Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were onstage presenting an award, John Davidson, a man with Tourette's syndrome whose life story was the subject of a nominated film, screamed out the N-word. Not a one-off, he also uttered the slur twice more at other Black artists. During the show, host Alan Cumming thanked the audience for "understanding" Mr. Davidson's outburst. Both BAFTA and the BBC, the broadcaster for the evening in the UK, made dutiful, boilerplate apologies. Mr. Davidson issued a statement saying he was "mortified" that people would think his outburst was who he was. In all this, all the attention and care were aimed at John Davidson. He was the one who had to be consoled. He was the one who had to be assured that he'd done nothing wrong. He couldn't help it. It was involuntary. Not once were Mr. Jordan or Mr. Lindo considere...
