I Swear now embroiled in bizarre racism row as critics accuse John Davidson biopic of 'blackface' amid Baftas saga

Mr Davidson involuntarily said the slur while Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on the stage presenting an award.

Mr Lindo has since spoken out to criticise Bafta's handling of the situation, while Sinners' leading man, Mr Jordan, was reportedly "repulsed" by the incident. The entire Bafta audience was made aware of Mr Donaldson's condition at the top of proceedings.

The Tourette's campaigner, whose story was brought to life by Bafta-winning actor Robert Aramayo, was invited to attend but ended up removing himself from the auditorium following a series of tics.

The 54-year-old has since criticised the BBC and Bafta for failing to remove his tics from broadcasts, despite assurances they would be.

He also questioned why microphones were positioned near where he was sitting, given he was "some 40 rows back" from the stage.

Despite Mr Davidson's condition and the apologies from the BBC and Bafta, some critics have continued to target Mr Davidson and the film about his life, most notably musician and actor Jamie Foxx.

And now, some on social media have turned their ire towards the film itself, claiming one scene involving Mr Aramayo in character as Mr Davidson was evidence of "blackface".

The scene in question involved Mr Aramayo's character, John, and his pal Murray (Francesco Piacentini-Smith) painting John's room black.

In the film, John had just been taken under the wing of Murray's mum, Dottie (Maxine Peake), who encouraged him to move in with them rather than John's less-than-understanding mother, Heather (Shirley Henderson).

The scene showed Murray and John painting the room black, John's favourite colour, before the Tourette's sufferer endured a tic and began hitting himself in the head with the brush.

With his face now covered in black paint, Mr Aramayo's character turned to his pal and began to hit him with the brush, leaving them both with black paint on their faces as they laughed.

The seemingly innocuous scene has now been weaponised by social media users who remain unsympathetic to Mr Davidson in the fallout of the ordeal.

TikToker @tesboyfly was one of the first to share a clip of the scene on social media. He wrote in the accompanying caption: "The fact that they’ve spent the last 24 hours of this news cycle gaslighting the public into thinking this was a completely random occurrence. SAVE IT! SINNERS BETTER SWEEP THE OSCARS! #fyp #bafta #sinners #michaelbjordan #iswear."

The TikToker went on to baselessly claim that Mr Donaldson must, therefore, have "premeditated" his tic when Mr Jordan and Mr Lindo were on stage.

“Go watch the movie” and then when people discover there’s a blackface scene in it, y’all want to explain that away too. We didn’t understand that either, huh? The paint just HAD to be black. Right. pic.twitter.com/mvdTxtNo2q

— Echo (@EchoDoesRadio) February 25, 2026

The sentiment was sadly echoed by others on social media. A user by the name of @EchoDoesRadio on X hit out: "'Go watch the movie' and then when people discover there’s a blackface scene in it, y’all want to explain that away too. We didn’t understand that either, huh? The paint just HAD to be black. Right."

When fellow X users argued the scene bore none of the intent she implied, the X user doubled down: "So you’re telling me the paint HAD to be black in order for the context of this scene to work? No other color? Yeah, ok." (sic)

Unfortunately, several other social media users have begun sharing the I Swear clip across the platforms, suggesting it's evidence of some sort of underlying discrimination.

However, several public figures have jumped to Mr Davidson's defence in light of the criticism. Michelle Dewberry has called for a public apology from the aforementioned Mr Foxx.

@teaboyfly The fact that they’ve spent the last 24 hours of this news cycle gaslighting the public into thinking this was a completely random occurrence. SAVE IT! SINNERS BETTER SWEEP THE OSCARS! #fyp #bafta #sinners #michaelbjordan #iswear ♬ original sound - teaboyfly

Meanwhile, several of the stars of I Swear have spoken out to fiercely back Mr Davidson, who has since reached out to the Sinners team directly following the incident.

The ongoing uproar surrounding the incident has prompted the BBC to launch an investigation into how the slur made its way onto the broadcast.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy publicly voiced her own "serious concerns" about the BBC's conduct. "As the public would expect, I have raised this matter with the BBC director general," she said on Wednesday.

"I welcome the launch of a full investigation by the BBC. Broadcasting a racial slur is completely unacceptable and harmful. The BBC must ensure that this never happens again.”

She added on Thursday: "I think it’s fair to say that this Government and I were not satisfied with the initial response from the BBC, and we do need to see much swifter action taken in these sorts of instances, and action that results in this not happening again.

"I think we’re all deeply concerned that there have been too many incidents of this kind."