Martin's Musings

By now, you’ve probably heard about what happened at this year’s BAFTA Awards ceremony. But if not, here’s a quick summary: John Davidson, who has Tourette’s Syndrome, had an involuntary, raw, verbal outburst and yelled the n-word while Sinners stars Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage presenting an award. The clip quickly went viral.

Davidson was in the audience that night because I Swear, a movie about his life, was nominated for six awards. The film would end up winning half of those, but all anyone seemed to want to talk about was that outburst — and the fact that the film’s star, Robert Aramayo, had beaten out Jordan and Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet for Best Actor, considering everyone (in the U.S., anyway) expected one of those two men to take home the Oscar weeks later, mostly because I Swear hadn’t yet made its way stateside, so it wasn’t on anyone’s radar yet.

With Aramayo’s movie finally hitting American movie theaters this week, what happened at the BAFTAs is back in the conversation. But chances are good that, once people over here actually see the film, the controversy and second-guessing that has followed the ceremony will end.