The 2026 BAFTA Film Awards were supposed to be a celebration of British cinema — but it was Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson whose involuntary outbursts cut through the polished ceremony and ignited a national conversation about disability, inclusion, and just how far society has truly come in understanding neurological conditions.
Davidson, the 54-year-old Scottish activist who has spent four decades educating the public about Tourette’s syndrome, was seated as an invited guest at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday evening, February 22, when his tics were picked up by microphones and broadcast to millions of viewers watching on BBC One and BritBox International. His presence — and the reaction to it — instantly became the most talked-about moment of the night.
If you’re learning about Tourette’s syndrome for the first time tonight, you’re not alone — share this article with someone who needs to understand why moments like this matter.
What Happened at the 2026 BAFTAs
Before the ceremony even began, the floor manager addressed the audience directly, introducing Davidson and explaining that he has Tourette’s syndrome, and that involuntary noises or movements might be heard throughout the evening. BAFTA made clear he was a welcome, honored guest.
Despite the warning, the outbursts still shocked many in the room. During the opening remarks from BAFTA chair Sara Putt, Davidson shouted “Boring!” and “Bullshit!” when the crowd was asked not to use profanity during the evening. Later, “shut the f*** up” rang out during a speech, and “f*** you” was audible as the directors of children’s film Boong accepted their award onstage.
The most jarring moment came when actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo took the stage to present the award for best visual effects. A racial slur was heard from Davidson’s direction. Both Jordan and Lindo handled the moment with professionalism, calmly continuing to present to the winners of Avatar: Fire and Ash without breaking stride.
Alan Cumming Steps In Twice
Host Alan Cumming addressed the situation not once but twice during the broadcast. Early in the ceremony, he told the crowd — which included Prince William and Princess Kate — “You may have noticed some strong language in the background. This can be part of how Tourette’s syndrome shows up for some people, as the film explores that experience. Thanks for your understanding and helping create a respectful space for everyone.”
After Davidson left the venue roughly 25 minutes into the proceedings — of his own accord, according to multiple reports, and not at BAFTA’s request — Cumming returned to the subject with a more direct statement: “Tourette’s Syndrome is a disability and the tics you’ve heard tonight are involuntary, which means the person who has Tourette’s Syndrome has no control over their language. We apologize if you are offended tonight.”
BAFTA later stated that Davidson was an invited guest and that under no circumstances would he have been asked to leave the event.
Who Is John Davidson?
To understand why Sunday’s moment carries such weight, it helps to understand who Davidson is and what he has given to the Tourette’s community.
Davidson grew up in Galashiels, Scotland, in a working-class family with dreams of becoming a professional footballer. Symptoms of what would eventually be diagnosed as Tourette’s syndrome began appearing when he was just 12 years old, but he wasn’t formally diagnosed until age 25. Those years in between were marked by deep confusion, social isolation, unjust punishment from authority figures, and physical attacks from strangers who misread his tics as aggression or deliberate provocation.
He first entered public consciousness in 1989 through the BBC documentary John’s Not Mad, a groundbreaking film that introduced millions of British viewers to the realities of living with Tourette’s for the very first time. That documentary changed the conversation around the condition in the United Kingdom overnight. Davidson has never stopped building on that moment.
Over the decades, he has given talks at schools, police stations, hospitals, and community events, tirelessly explaining what Tourette’s looks and feels like from the inside. In 2019, he received an MBE for his services to raising awareness of the condition. In 2023, he participated in research at the University of Nottingham to test a device designed to help reduce tics. Public figures including Billie Eilish and Lewis Capaldi have since shared their own Tourette’s diagnoses, and many credit the cultural shift that Davidson helped create.
The Film That Brought Him Back to the Spotlight
Davidson’s presence at the BAFTAs was not random. He was there because his life story is the basis of I Swear, a film directed, written, and produced by Kirk Jones, and starring Robert Aramayo — known to many American audiences from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power — as a 25-year-old Davidson.
The film was nominated for five BAFTAs, including best leading actor for Aramayo, best supporting actor for Peter Mullan, best original screenplay, outstanding British film, and casting. It took home the award for casting. In a stunning sweep, Aramayo also won both the EE Rising Star Award and the BAFTA for Best Leading Actor, beating out Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Ethan Hawke, and Michael B. Jordan.
Accepting his Rising Star award, Aramayo said: “John Davidson is the most remarkable man I ever met. He’s so forthcoming with education, and he believes there should be still so much more we need to learn about Tourette’s.”
The film had already earned widespread praise after premiering at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The charity Tourettes Action called its portrayal of the condition deeply honest, with the organization’s CEO Emma McNally saying the film had sparked a huge wave of public engagement, including from people who had previously given little thought to Tourette’s.
A Debate That Split the Room — and the Internet
The reaction to Davidson’s outbursts was immediate and divided. Inside the Royal Festival Hall, witnesses described the auditorium falling completely silent during the more jarring moments, with visible shock on the faces of attendees. No one openly responded in the room.
Online, the debate erupted. Trending searches around “BAFTAs Tourette’s” flooded social platforms within minutes. Many British commentators emphasized that Tourette’s syndrome is deeply misunderstood and that Davidson’s tics are entirely involuntary. Others, particularly some American voices reacting to the broadcast, expressed discomfort, particularly around the use of the racial slur during Black History Month.
The divide in reaction reflects a broader gap that still exists between public awareness and genuine public understanding of Tourette’s. Knowing the name of a condition and truly grasping what it means to live inside it are two very different things — which is exactly the point Davidson has spent his entire adult life trying to make.
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition with no cure. It is characterized by involuntary, repetitive motor movements and vocalizations called tics. For some people with the condition, those tics involve words — including offensive ones. This is not a reflection of the person’s views or intentions. It is a symptom. Davidson himself has faced violence, arrest, and years of social exclusion because of a condition he did not choose.
Why Sunday Night Mattered
What happened at the BAFTAs on Sunday was uncomfortable. It was also, in many ways, exactly the kind of public moment that advances awareness more than any documentary or film ever could on its own.
The discomfort many viewers felt watching Davidson’s outbursts is precisely the discomfort that people with Tourette’s syndrome navigate every single day of their lives — in classrooms, workplaces, restaurants, buses, and everywhere else. His presence at one of the most prestigious film ceremonies in the world, surrounded by royalty and Hollywood stars, made something invisible suddenly very visible.
BAFTA’s decision to invite Davidson, prepare the audience in advance, and stand firm in its position that he would never be asked to leave speaks to an institutional commitment to inclusion that went beyond optics. And Cumming’s addresses to the crowd, though brief, put the word “disability” and the word “involuntary” in front of an audience of millions — many of whom may have never truly connected those two ideas to what they were witnessing.
The film I Swear is currently available to watch on Prime Video. Its BAFTA wins this week will almost certainly drive a new wave of viewers to the story — and to a deeper understanding of the man at its center.
If Sunday night changed the way you think about Tourette’s syndrome, tell us your reaction in the comments — and follow along as this conversation continues to grow.
