BAFTA racial slur was breach of BBC editorial standards: internal probe

The finding follows a “fast-tracked” investigation ordered by former Director-General Tim Davie into the “serious mistake” that saw the racist slur aired during the event in late February.

According to the investigation report, there was a “lack of clarity” among staff handling the broadcast, which was aired slightly later than the start of the ceremony, about whether the N-word was audible on the recording.

“This resulted in there being a delay before a decision was taken to remove the recording from iPlayer,” it said, adding this did not happen until about 9.30am the following day.

“This delay was a serious mistake, because there could be no certainty that the word would be inaudible to all viewers,” it added.

The incident was the latest in a string of controversies to hit the BBC.

In June 2025 during the BBC’s Glastonbury festival coverage, staff failed to pull a livestream of a performance by Bob Vylan after the punk-rap duo’s frontman led the crowds in an anti-Israel chant.

The BBC later apologised and said it would no longer live-broadcast musical performances it deemed to be “high risk”.

The president has filed a US$10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over the edit for its flagship current affairs programme Panorama.

Trump alleges the editing of his 6 January, 2021 speech made it appear that he had explicitly urged supporters to attack the Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.