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Posted
12 hours ago, stumobir said:

SNL’s sketch on Tourette’s following the BAFTA incident is so bad it needs to be seen to be believed. Painfully unfunny, even by their bottomed out standard, and the worst kind of overt ableism imaginable.

I really hope John Davidson is receiving the support he deserves, a night that was supposed to celebrate his life and advocacy turning in to this is just the cruellest irony. 
 

 

What are people's views on the whole Bafta controversy? Personally I've known people with Tourettes who are great people and they genuinely cannot help saying the most inappropriate things in any situation. The backlash John Davidson has received has been horrendous. 

At the same time I can understand why people might take issue with what he said (though he couldn't control it and there was no malice in it). 

Posted (edited)

BBC really should have just muted it, instead they censored a speech against genocide. I obviously feel bad for John and half of the shit wouldn't be slung his way if it was just cut out, it hurts people on both sides.

EDIT: Both Dawn and Eddie are great here, well worth a listen.

 

Edited by Merzbow
  • Paid Members
Posted
12 hours ago, stumobir said:

SNL’s sketch on Tourette’s following the BAFTA incident is so bad it needs to be seen to be believed

You could not pay me to press play on that. 
 

5 minutes ago, Boycie said:

What are people's views on the whole Bafta controversy?

I’d imagine his invite to the MOBOs has been revoked. 

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Boycie said:

What are people's views on the whole Bafta controversy? Personally I've known people with Tourettes who are great people and they genuinely cannot help saying the most inappropriate things in any situation. The backlash John Davidson has received has been horrendous. 

At the same time I can understand why people might take issue with what he said (though he couldn't control it and there was no malice in it). 

I think rather unfortunately its that it doesn't appear to be just the once and if those who have commented are correct, it was also directed towards people as well with no real comment or helping from Bafta. 

I've suffered with twitches, stims, stutters and involuntary movements much of my teen and adult life and I can't even imagine how difficult it is for those with Tourettes to have it every day where mine comes on through stress. More should have been done by Bafta to ensure the safety and concern of all involved and them sticking their heads in the sands and sending out paltry statements through the host throughout just feels like "well what are we to do aye?" 

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Posted

Surely the BBC should bear some responsibility for airing it? It wasn't live.

Apparently (and if I'm wrong then I'm happy to be corrected) someone shouted 'free Palestine' and they edited it out. 

 

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Posted
12 minutes ago, I Bent My Wookie said:

I think rather unfortunately its that it doesn't appear to be just the once and if those who have commented are correct, it was also directed towards people as well with no real comment or helping from Bafta. 

I've suffered with twitches, stims, stutters and involuntary movements much of my teen and adult life and I can't even imagine how difficult it is for those with Tourettes to have it every day where mine comes on through stress. More should have been done by Bafta to ensure the safety and concern of all involved and them sticking their heads in the sands and sending out paltry statements through the host throughout just feels like "well what are we to do aye?" 

Just to add, I hope you're well my friend. It's not easy dealing with things people don't understand. I'm a mixed bag myself.

 

Posted
2 minutes ago, Boycie said:

someone shouted 'free Palestine' and they edited it out. 

They edited out an actual speech from Akinola Davies Jr, too.

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Posted
1 minute ago, Boycie said:

Just to add, I hope you're well my friend. It's not easy dealing with things people don't understand. I'm a mixed bag myself.

 

I deal with it, very supportive bars that know me and if I want a beer but don't want to talk I can point, put thumbs up, nod etc. Helps when the worlds a little darker. 

Gonna be a nightmare when I open my business as the stress of that plus talking to people all day will end up in me feeling anxious but I've 9 months of extra self care to sort that out so it doesn't affect me like it used to. 

  • Paid Members
Posted
1 minute ago, I Bent My Wookie said:

I deal with it, very supportive bars that know me and if I want a beer but don't want to talk I can point, put thumbs up, nod etc. Helps when the worlds a little darker. 

Gonna be a nightmare when I open my business as the stress of that plus talking to people all day will end up in me feeling anxious but I've 9 months of extra self care to sort that out so it doesn't affect me like it used to. 

That's awesome mate. I go to a few pubs that put up with my bullshit as well. I've made some genuine friends over the years.

Judging by what I know of you (admittedly limited) I think you'll do great and your business will be a credit to you. 

All the best 

 

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Posted
14 minutes ago, Boycie said:

Surely the BBC should bear some responsibility for airing it? It wasn't live.

Apparently (and if I'm wrong then I'm happy to be corrected) someone shouted 'free Palestine' and they edited it out. 

 

Apparently there were editors in a truck who didn't pick up on it and no one relayed it to them. BAFTA themselves were aware as they had assured Warner Bros producers watching the feed that it would be removed. That's a major cock up, because they should have had someone from their Compliance team watching the feed alongside the editors, and someone relaying stuff to the truck of any incidents in the room that need to be aware of. I have a small amount of experience of much lower profile live TV and that's basic stuff. 

All that is along side the decision to seat someone with tourettes near a mic - there were apparently lots of areas in the audience that were not audible and lack of clear communication to the people in the room about what was going on. A real shit show from BAFTA and the BBC.

Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Boycie said:

What are people's views on the whole Bafta controversy? Personally I've known people with Tourettes who are great people and they genuinely cannot help saying the most inappropriate things in any situation. The backlash John Davidson has received has been horrendous. 

At the same time I can understand why people might take issue with what he said (though he couldn't control it and there was no malice in it). 

 

I find it heartbreaking as it should have been one of the best moments of John Davidson's life. An amazing film about him was being honoured for major honours. He watched the guy playing him beat huge Hollywood players to win best actor BAFTA.

The film realises, how his Tourettes constantly fucks him over, in his day to day life. Getting beaten up, humiliated and arrested because of his ticks. But he is a decent guy, people like him and believe in him and he trys to help people suffering like he has.

I just hope he is alright. He seems a tough guy throughout it all. But it worries me.

If you have not seen I Swear. Go out of your way to watch it. It is an incredible film with some fantastic performances by the leads. I thought it was the best film I saw last year by miles.

Edited by Cousin Jim Bob
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, Boycie said:

What are people's views on the whole Bafta controversy? Personally I've known people with Tourettes who are great people and they genuinely cannot help saying the most inappropriate things in any situation. The backlash John Davidson has received has been horrendous. 

At the same time I can understand why people might take issue with what he said (though he couldn't control it and there was no malice in it). 

The simplest thing to do would’ve been to censor it, either with a bleep or just muting the audio or cutting straight to the list of nominations. For whatever reason the BBC didn’t do that, which ultimately lead to the whole situation being a whole lot worse.

What occurred on social media afterwards really showed how quick people are to just get on there and feel like they can say anything they want behind the safety of an avatar. They heard what had happened and they went hunting for John Davidson, who received abuse, demands for an apology and even death threats from people online in the immediate aftermath. It didn’t matter that he’s an Australian Rugby League Journalist with the same name, people searched his name and vented their anger in some of the most vile & disgusting ways imaginable at the first John Davidson they found

Edited by WyattSheepMask
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Posted
7 hours ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

 

I find it heartbreaking as it should have been one of the best moments of John Davidson's life. An amazing film about him was being honoured for major honours. He watched the guy playing him beat huge Hollywood players to win best actor BAFTA.

The film realises, how his Tourettes constantly fucks him over, in his day to day life. Getting beaten up, humiliated and arrested because of his ticks. But he is a decent guy, people like him and believe in him and he trys to help people suffering like he has.

I just hope he is alright. He seems a tough guy throughout it all. But it worries me.

If you have not seen I Swear. Go out of your way to watch it. It is an incredible film with some fantastic performances by the leads. I thought it was the best film I saw last year by miles.

It arrives on Netflix next week as well, so will be much more easily available for a lot of people to see.

Posted

I'll preface this post but saying I'm not black and I don't have Tourettes, so I'm well aware that there are far more important voices out there who understand the nuances and life experiences more than I ever will.

However, I've had the chance to have some pretty deep discussions with some disabled friends and some black friends, and it's been a really interesting opportunity to learn from.

I watched I Swear in the cinema. I've seen it at the cinema a couple of times. It's an immensely powerful piece and it led me to watch and read a lot more about John Davidson, his life and educate myself more about Tourettes. Like many, I imagine I've just seen it in a 'funny' context of people shouting rude words in inappropriate places and never had any reason to think much more of it. That's just the natural way of life isn't it? There's so many things going on in the world that it's hard to know everything about everything.

I Swear does everything it should do. It plays off that normal 'comedic' view of Tourettes and then makes it incredibly clear that while there can be humour found in it, there's also a massive day to day struggle and stress. John went through it when he was younger when kids can be really cruel, and you hope it'll get better in adult life but there were still challenges.

It's a wonderful story of him finding his place and his people and being able to channel something so hurtful and confusing into something so positive and life affirming. He helps those going through the same journey he did. He raises awareness knowing that it's so misunderstood.

It's a genuinely beautiful film where Robert Aramayo captures John's essence perfectly and I couldn't be happier that he won the BAFTA award for it. The recognition for him and John is well deserved and such a special moment.

At least it should've been.

I'm truly gutted for everyone involved that it has been overshadowed by a complete lack of care from BBC. I do genuinely believe that if it hadn't been broadcast then it wouldn't have had nearly the impact and uproar that it did. Not to dismiss what happened whatsoever but people would've had far less to latch on to.

There's many different angles:

1) White man says the n word - inappropriate? Absolutely. Could/should he have made a clearer apology after the fact? Perhaps, but there's the 'should a disabled man apologise for..' viewpoint which I completely understand too. You could argue it may have just been the good thing to do even if unnecessary, as unfortunately a lot of people were criticising him for that too. But people were so angry that they probably would've found fault with that too.

From my own experience of what I read - a lot of black people got on the defence very quickly on socials without any recognition for John's condition, either completely and utterly ignoring it, or just dismissing it and twisting the way it is. "How does he know that word if he's not racist?" for example.

I understand the anger. The hurt. The disappointment. I get that this is an incredibly deep rooted thing for SO long, but John became a scapegoat for a lot of hatred at that point. A lot of anger towards the system and the media and all filtered through him. I saw people suggesting if he couldn't control it, he shouldn't be allowed in the room. I don't think flipping discrimination on him is the best approach to win an argument.

2) Disabled man was let down - this was John's special night. He had every reason to be there, to celebrate and to be proud of what he's done and how the film is. It was also another great way of raising awareness. The BBC made a choice to air the word. They didn't have to do that. They could have protected him and made kinder editing decisions for everyone but they didn't and now they've not only taken away one of the biggest nights of his life but potentially undone so much of his great work and set back the opinions of Tourettes for many years.

This was meant to be another step forward. A way to celebrate how far they've come. Another way of getting eyes on something that is completely misunderstood, but instead it gave rise to a bunch of uneducated angry voices that were triggered by a terrible decision someone at BBC made.

3) No one has to pick a side - it's quite obviously the case that black people hearing that word is offensive, uncomfortable and unnecessary AND that John was failed in terms of duty of care. 

All I can hope is that from this entire mess, it has caused even further conversations and discussions to be had about Tourettes and that someone somewhere is getting educated in a way that they wouldn't have before. Not through stuff like SNL and comedy skits that are making the situation even worse. Not through ignorant witch hunts towards a man who cannot control what he's doing. But at aiming the anger at the right institutions. 

Plenty will be written and filmed about Tourettes in the coming months off the back of all of this and I hope somehow John and those impacted find a positive way forward. No one should be coming away from this hurt. This is an opportunity to invoke positive change and open eyes in the right way.

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Posted

It's just unfortunate that he shouted that word and not this.

It's also worth noting that 90% of the bullshit directed his way came from uneducated yanks, proving once again that they are the absolute worst who fail to grasp anything complicated.

The BBC and Baftas are at fault here, no one else.

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