Black History Month 2026: There’s No Excuse for Racism
Day 24
A guest at the BAFTAs shouted the N-word at Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo, two Black men, as they collected an award for their hard work. (Based on their censorship, BBC apparently thought racial slurs were less offensive than speaking out against genocide, but that’s another article in itself!) As expected, many people were rightfully outraged over the racial slur. Then it came out that the man who shouted the slur had Tourette’s Syndrome, and suddenly it became perfectly okay that he called two Black men the N-word. Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.
Before I proceed, I want to mention what others have already stated: only a small percentage of people Tourette’s Syndrome uncontrollably shout obscenities. People trying to defend this guy by saying this happened because of his Tourette’s Syndrome are arguably being ableist by painting everyone with Tourette’s with a broad brush. Okay, on with the post!
Being disabled isn’t an excuse for racism. Even if we assume the man had the form of Tourette’s that made him shout obscenities uncontrollably, it doesn’t make his actions okay. It also doesn’t make it okay to invalidate the feelings of people who were hurt by him using the N-word. Whether we like it or not, words have power. The N-word has centuries of racism, violence, degradation, and humiliation behind it. That’s not going to go away just because the man who shouted it had a disability.
This is a case of intent vs. impact. Under the most “innocent until proven guilty” assumption, this was an unfortunate accident. While the man didn’t intend to shout the N-word at a couple of Black people, he still did it. That means there is now a problem that must be addressed. If you accidentally stepped on someone’s foot, you still caused an injury that needs to be addressed. You should at least apologize to the person you hurt. Likewise, the man should apologize for using the N-word.
And while I’m talking about the N-word, there’s no such thing as an “N-word Pass.” One Black person giving you permission to use the N-word (doesn’t matter if it’s soft-a or hard-r) around them doesn’t stop it from being racial slur. It doesn’t prevent you from being racist, either. Even if every single Black person you know gives you permission to use it, there’s the fact that you STILL WANT TO USE IT despite knowing what the word means and how hurtful it is. Maybe you should unpack that.
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