BBC upholds complaints over racial slur in Baftas broadcast

BBC upholds complaints over racial slur in Baftas broadcast6 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GooglePaul GlynnCulture reporterGetty ImagesThe broadcast of a racial slur that was shouted during the Bafta Film Awards breached the BBC's editorial standards, the corporation's executive complaints unit (ECU) has ruled.A Tourette's campaigner shouted an involuntary racial slur while actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting one of the categories at the event in February.The shout was not edited out of the subsequent TV broadcast, which aired on BBC One on a two-hour delay, and the ceremony remained available to stream on iPlayer until the morning after.On Wednesday, the BBC's chief content officer Kate Phillips said the ECU "found this should not have made it to air and it was a clear breach of our editorial standards". However, she noted, it also "found the breach was not intentional".The ECU received "a large number of complaints" about the BBC's Baftas coverage, and upheld those relating to editorial standards on harm and offence.Last month, outgoing director general Tim Davie said the BBC "profoundly regrets" what happened, adding that the team editing the ceremony had not heard the word and did not intentionally leave it in.Serious mistakeThe ECU's findings said: "The ECU found that the inclusion of the n-word in the broadcast (which was also streamed live on iPlayer) was highly offensive, had no editorial justification and represented a breach of the BBC's editorial standards, but that the breach was unintentional."Phillips explained that "the production team did not hear the n-word at the time it was said and therefore no decision was taken to leave the word within the broadcast".She added: "The ECU accepted this was a genuine mistake, especially as the team did correctly identify and edit out a subsequent use of the same word, in line with the...