<\/p>\n
The BAFTA Board of Trustees announced Friday it is working to address its shortcomings in \u201caccessibility, inclusion planning, culture and event communication and command structure\u201d more than a month after a racial slur controversy <\/a>overshadowed its annual awards celebration. <\/p>\n The board for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts said in a statement published Friday<\/a> that an independent review of the scandal found \u201ca number of structural weaknesses in BAFTA\u2019s planning, escalation procedures and crisis coordination arrangements.\u201d During the Feb. 22 awards ceremony, a white audience member with Tourette syndrome hurled a racial slur while \u201cSinners\u201d stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, who are Black, were on stage. BAFTA and BBC faced swift backlash \u2014 and have since apologized \u2014 for failing to edit out the slur before broadcasting the ceremony after a two-hour delay. <\/p>\n In Friday\u2019s statement, the board of trustees said that the external review by RISE Associates \u201cdid not find evidence of malicious intent\u201d from the parties behind the February event and offered renewed apologies to the Black community and \u201cthe disability community.\u201d The man who hurled the racial slur was John Davidson, a Scottish Tourette syndrome campaigner who was the executive producer and subject of the BAFTA-winning film \u201cI Swear.\u201d <\/p>\n The board acknowledged that it had fallen short on its diversity and inclusion goals, adding that it did not adequately anticipate \u201cthe impact of such an incident in a live event environment.\u201d RISE said in a statement included in the press release that BAFTA did not escalate \u201cearly warning signs\u201d and that the organization\u2019s lack of a \u201cclear operational command structure\u201d limited its ability to effectively address the incident. <\/p>\n The incident and subsequent fallout are \u201cevidence that existing structures were not sufficiently robust for a modern live broadcast environment,\u201d RISE added. <\/p>\n Friday\u2019s statement also laid out the board\u2019s three-part plan to address its shortfalls, from improving \u201cescalation processes\u201d and communication to addressing \u201cany internal cultural gaps\u201d that might be in the way of its diversity, equity and inclusion commitments. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are determined to learn from what happened, and to ensure inclusion and belonging for all is meaningful in practice as well as in principle,\u201d the statement concluded. <\/p>\n The fallout from the controversy included an apology from Davidson<\/a>, reports<\/a> about how the BBC managed to censor a second slur and a call to \u201cFree Palestine\u201d ahead of its telecast, and additional r<\/a>eports of a tense meeting <\/a>between \u201cSinners\u201d studio Warner Bros. and the BBC over the incident. <\/p>\n For \u201cSinners\u201d stars Jordan and Lindo, the 57th NAACP Image Awards less than a week after the BAFTAs offered community, big awards-circuit gains for \u201cSinners\u201d<\/a> and a break from the uproar. <\/p>\n \u201cWe appreciate all the support we\u2019ve been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend,\u201d Lindo told Image Awards attendees. \u201cIt is an honor to be here among our people this evening. … It\u2019s a classic case of something that could have been very negative becoming very positive.\u201d<\/p>\n