Google apologized on Tuesday for a news alert about a controversial moment at the British Academy Film Awards that contained the unedited N-word.
“We’re deeply sorry for this mistake,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again.”
The now-deleted news alert previewed a story about Sunday’s BAFTA awards, where an attendee with Tourette syndrome shouted the N-word while “Sinners” stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo — both of whom are Black — were on stage to present an award.
Deadline.com initially reported that AI was to blame for the racial slur appearing in the push alert. Google said that was not the case, and Deadline has since clarified its report.
Google said it caught the mistake quickly and only a “small subset of users” received the alert with the unedited racial slur. The search giant said that its push alert systems recognized a euphemism for the slur used in stories and incorrectly inserted the full word.
“This system error did not involve AI,” Google said. “Our safety filters did not properly trigger, which is what caused this.”
Tourette syndrome advocate John Davidson, whose life story served as the inspiration for the BAFTA-nominated film “I Swear,” later said in a statement that he was “deeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning.”
According to the Tourette Association of America, roughly 10% of the millions of people living with Tourette and tic disorders experience coprolalia, which is “the involuntary vocalization of obscene or socially inappropriate words or phrases.”
“Importantly, these vocal tics are not reflective of the beliefs or values of the person experiencing them,” the association said in a statement.
The BBC and the BAFTAs have faced intense criticism for broadcasting the moment, even though the award ceremony was subject to a two-hour tape delay. On Monday, both the BBC and BAFTAs offered separate public apologies for the moment.
“We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation and we apologize to all,” the BAFTAs said in a statement. “We will learn from this, and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.”
Kate Phillips, the BBC’s chief content officer, said in a note to staff that another racial slur was edited out of the broadcast.
“We take full responsibility for what happened,” Phillips wrote on Tuesday in the note, which was provided to Business Insider. “When I was made aware it was audible on iPlayer, I asked for it to be taken down. As I’m sure you’re aware we put out a statement yesterday morning apologising that the remark was not edited out prior to broadcast.”
During the award ceremony, host Alan Cumming made multiple statements about the language the audience might be hearing. Variety reported that “shut the fuck up” among other phrases could also be heard during the show.
“You may have noticed some strong language in the background,” Cumming told the audience. “This can be part of how Tourette’s syndrome shows up for some people as the film explores that experience.”
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