Le Petit Tourette is one of my favorite South Park episodes. In it, Eric Cartman learns about Tourette's syndrome and realizes he has a golden ticket to shout obscenities. The show does a decent job of touching on the real difficulties of living with TS while also exploring how someone like Eric Cartman could take advantage of it.

Tourette’s syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by involuntary tics. Extremely rare cases cause verbal tics like the ones Cartman imitated. This includes obscenities and even racial slurs. This is even rarer in adults.

This brings us to the adult with TS who shouted “ni@@er” while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, two Black men, presented at the BAFTA Film Awards.

When I watched the video clip, my first thought was that this is obviously AI or someone is actually trying to pull off the Cartman bit. After a little research, my second thought was for Jordan and Lindo.

It is one thing to know someone with Tourette’s in the audience; it is another to have to keep composure while a white man is hurling an unexpected racial slur your way. If Jordan and Lindo had lost their composure, if they had even been visibly shaken for a moment, they would be judged and possibly even blackballed.

We need to acknowledge the difficulty of Lindo and Jordan’s experience and the backlash against John Davidson if we actually want to grow from this.

John Davidson is the Tourette’s advocate who shouted “nigger” during the BAFTA awards. He was invited because of the success of I Swear, a movie based on his life.

He has been outspoken about the challenges of living with Tourette’s, how it tore apart his family, and how he contemplated suicide. I imagine a man who has put so much work into the community would not want this type of negative attention.

Davidson shouted multiple obscenities throughout the night, but the slur aimed at Lindo and Jordan was unique because it was so specific. Unfortunately, this discussion devolved into an ableist versus racist discussion. Two things can be true at once, and if we take the time to listen to each other, we could move forward.

From what I’ve seen, many people are ready to defend Davidson. Tourette’s is real, and these tics are just the brain misfiring. We can’t be mad at Davidson for this, but we also must acknowledge that “ni@@er” started floating around in his head when he saw two Black men. He used “fuck” multiple times that night. He used “nigger” once.

However, this isn’t Davidson’s fault. This is a societal problem. Racism is just as real as Tourette’s, and these violent words are still common. Davidson may actively use slurs, but it is also likely that he is only mentally aware of them because he exists in the Western world. Once he is aware of them and their uses, they seemingly become part of his tics.

Shayla Amamiya, a Black American influencer with Tourette’s, explains it best here.

She says it is okay to be offended, but you cannot be offended by a disabled person being disabled. I agree.

However, it is just as ableist if we don’t point out when they can do better as humans. The general apology at the end of the broadcast was not sufficient.

Lindo said he and Jordan did what they had to do, but he did wish someone from BAFTA had spoken to them afterwards. I’m not sure if white people can truly understand this, but I will attempt to explain it.

Imagine society hating you. Imagine, by law, you are considered a second-class citizen for generations. Imagine there is a word that symbolizes all of that and more, and it is slung at you through life, as an attempt to hurt you, break you. It doesn’t matter how strong you are; you understand why the word is being used. It is an attack.

Jordan and Lindo take it on the chin because this is what Black people are expected to do. As a Black man, it is hard to not feel like we are always expected to be the bigger people, and when we aren’t, we are stripped of our humanity.

Don’t get me wrong, disabled people are dehumanized just as often, if not more so, which is why we should be able to have a civilized conversation instead of pointing fingers and tearing each other down.

Michael B. Jordan was left repulsed after the encounter. His parents were left in tears, and the accidental attack only made his day worse.

I’ve seen some of the responses to Black people, and a common sentiment is that “it is just a word” or “he didn’t mean it.” So often, society fails to find empathy for us, especially in situations like this.

However, I can feel bad for the Black people impacted by this moment while also feeling bad for Davidson. I can only assume he was innocent as can be in this scenario, and directly attacking him, his character, or people with Tourette’s is also unacceptable.

We can question society’s role in this. We can criticize Davidson for a lackluster apology. We can definitely come for BAFTA for not censoring the moment or speaking to Lindo and Jordan.

The fact that BAFTA later censored Akinola Davies Jr, a Black director, for saying, “Free Palestine,” shows just how little they value Black people. They chose to leave in the slur because they don’t care.

Of course, we need to be mindful and empathetic in how we discuss this. Disabilities, especially something like Tourette’s, are already vulnerable to hate and ostracization. We do not want to reinforce that mindset while trying to be critical of a specific situation.

I also call for the same empathy for Black people.