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I<\/span>t was an incident that sparked a furore: during Sunday\u2019s Bafta ceremony Tourette syndrome (TS) activist John Davidson made several outbursts, including shouting the N-word as actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan were presenting a prize on stage.<\/p>\n Among others to comment on the incident were actors including Oscar winner Jamie Foxx and Wendell Pierce, who starred alongside <\/strong>Jordan in The Wire.<\/p>\n Writing below a post about the incident on Instagram, Foxx said Davidson\u2019s use of the N-word was \u201cUnacceptable\u201d, adding: \u201cNah he meant that shit\u201d, while Pierce wrote on the platform X: \u201cIt\u2019s infuriating that the first reaction wasn\u2019t complete and full throatted [sic] apologies to Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan. The insult to them takes priority. It doesn\u2019t matter the reasoning for the racist slur.\u201d<\/p>\n The journalist Jemele Hill also commented on X, writing: \u201cBlack people are just supposed to be ok with being disrespected and dehumanised so that other people don\u2019t feel bad.\u201d<\/p>\n However, it was Davidson\u2019s experience of TS that inspired the film I Swear, which scooped multiple awards at the ceremony. \u201cHow ironic then to invite the guy and then not expect him to be himself,\u201d said David Whitlam, who also has the disorder.<\/p>\n <\/span>David Whitlam said that John Davidson\u2019s outburst was not deliberate.<\/span> Photograph: supplied<\/p>\n Whitlam, 66, who has TS with coprolalia, vocal tics that involve swearing, stressed that Davidson\u2019s outbursts were not deliberate.<\/p>\n \u201cThe film pulled no punches and, in an environment where [Ricky] Gervais [former host of the Baftas] can be as rude as he likes, a person whose movie is winning a Bafta, should not now feel branded a racist because he blurted something out,\u201d he said. \u201cI just hope he isn\u2019t cowering at home, crying.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitlam said he had also experienced challenges with coprolalia, and said the description of Davidson\u2019s use of the N-word as a \u201cslur\u201d \u2013 as has occurred in many news pieces \u2013 was misleading.<\/p>\n \u201cA slur would be deliberately and specifically targeted by the individual towards a person or persons,\u201d he said. \u201cAn \u2018involuntary slur\u2019 is surely oxymoronic and that is precisely our problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitlam said he had ticced on the same word when visiting Texas in 1982. \u201cI had never before used the N-word, yet my brain, neurone, whatever, battered my skull and out it popped, until my girlfriend rapidly shut the window of the car,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember this incident clearly, to this very day.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitlam added that he now had coping mechanisms for his vocal tics.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving Tourette\u2019s, especially as one gets older, involves avoiding too many neuro-stimulating situations, especially in places where we are meant to behave,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I go to rock gigs, I sing in a chamber choir and play in a rock band, where my mind will be fully occupied. But I don\u2019t want to go to Tourette\u2019s clubs, where I would inevitably pick up new sounds and insults to make.\u201d<\/p>\n He also chooses single seats, without a window, when travelling by train.<\/p>\n \u201cI say to myself: \u2018Let\u2019s be as good as gold.\u2019 I have certain phrases that I say to myself and then I call it a virtuous circle \u2013 the more I don\u2019t make a noise, the more I don\u2019t want to,\u201d he said. \u201cBut then, if you get one word, and in my case, it usually is a bad word, I end up wanting to say it a lot. And I suppose [it is] things we weren\u2019t supposed to say as children, things we perhaps were warned off.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitlam\u2019s added that his late wife had recognised his condition, but the couple had not pursued a formal diagnosis in case it led to him becoming a \u201ctoned down\u201d version of himself.<\/p>\n \u201cShe said: that\u2019s not the David I love,\u201d Whitlam said.<\/p>\n James*, from Canada, said his experience of TS had diminished with age.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never shouted and sworn at people. No, with me it was saying something that was completely utterly inappropriate,\u201d he said, adding that his experiences had led him to being expelled from school, which cost him his place at a prestigious university.<\/p>\n However, James, who also has not had a formal diagnosis, said that with age comes insights \u2013 adding that while he had some compassion for Davidson, he had also experienced racism himself.<\/p>\n \u201cHe shouldn\u2019t have stayed there and done this thing and caused the terrible offence, because it really is unacceptable,\u201d said James.<\/p>\n In a statement, Davidson said on Monday that he was \u201cdeeply mortified if anyone considers my involuntary tics to be intentional or to carry any meaning\u201d, adding that he had chosen \u201cto leave the auditorium early into the ceremony as I was aware of the distress my tics were causing\u201d.<\/p>\n Some argue the furore is down to Bafta for not anticipating and managing the situation better, and the BBC, who initially failed to edit out Davidson\u2019s outburst, despite the ceremony being broadcast with a two-hour delay.<\/p>\n Among them is Gavin Higgins, 42, a classical composer from London, who was diagnosed with TS at the age of eight. \u201cWhen I was young my Tourette\u2019s was debilitating,\u201d he said. His tics caused him to contort his face, causing him persistent pain.<\/p>\n Higgins said his condition was more manageable now, although it could still affect his work, and may even have shaped the music he writes.<\/p>\n \u201cI realised recently that I\u2019ve got into the habit of writing lots of very loud, fast music. I think maybe it\u2019s subconsciously a way for me to be able to at least sit through my own pieces and not bother people around me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Higgins, who has also been involved in advocacy with the charity Tourettes Action, said the Bafta ceremony showed it was a \u201cmisunderstood condition\u201d, and the reaction was \u201cdisheartening\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got mixed feelings about it because [I Swear] won, which was great, and I think the film has brought a lot of information to people who didn\u2019t know about Tourette\u2019s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course I understand the hurt of hearing words like that; no one deserves to hear upsetting words shouted at them and it\u2019s important to acknowledge that. But I think what\u2019s been missed in a lot of the discourse is that Tourette\u2019s is a complex neurological condition and tics are involuntary \u2013 we can\u2019t help it and have no control over it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cTourette\u2019s has long been the butt of the joke, but as proven at the Baftas, Tourette\u2019s is funny until it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n Higgins hopes the Baftas controversy will lead to more awareness about the condition. \u201cAfter two days, it feels like people have actually taken time to understand how Tourette\u2019s works. And a lot of people have shifted their view slightly. It doesn\u2019t take away from the hurt of hearing horrible words shouted at you. Of course it doesn\u2019t,\u201d he says. \u201cA bit of kindness both ways is what\u2019s needed right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Patrick Hamlyn, 25, from Bournemouth, who was diagnosed with TS at 22 but does not have coprolalia, agreed. \u201cWhat I hope becomes the key outcome of this incident is that we all make an effort to understand each other better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should speak to our black friends about their lived experiences of racism. We should speak to our friends in wheelchairs about what it is like to be in a wheelchair. We should speak to our friends with Tourette\u2019s to learn about what makes them tic.\u201d<\/p>\n Hamlyn added that the world would be \u201ca far healthier and less malicious place\u201d if people could learn about each other\u2019s differences.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is important to remember that there\u2019s no such thing as a cookie-cutter human; we\u2019re all jigsaw pieces in this big puzzle of life and if we understand each other\u2019s ridges, we might just fit together.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n * The name has been changed<\/em><\/p>\n