Jamie Foxx’s take on BAFTAs racial slur incident sparks backlash as interview resurfaces

Jamie Foxx is facing backlash after weighing in on the Tourette’s outburst that disrupted the 2026 BAFTAs, because a resurfaced clip of him talking about the N-word has people calling out the irony.

The 58-year-old actor commented on an Instagram video of Tourette’s activist John Davidson yelling the N-word from the audience while Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the Best Visual Effects award to Avatar: Fire and Ashat the BAFTA Awards on Sunday.

“Nah he meant that s**t,” Foxx wrote. “Out of all the words, you could’ve said Tourette’s makes you say that? Unacceptable.”

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BAFTA host Alan Cumming addressed the moment live, explaining that strong language can be part of Tourette’s and wasn’t edited out of the BBC broadcast. UK charity Tourettes Action later defended Davidson, urging people to understand that tics are involuntary.

But Foxx’s comment has sparked a separate controversy after an old interview clip resurfaced from the press tour for Django Unchained. In it, Foxx defends director Quentin Tarantino’s repeated use of the N-word in the script, saying Tarantino “uses it correctly” and suggesting the filmmaker understood “how to do this Black s**t.”

People are now pointing out the contrast between Foxx dismissing Tourette’s-related speech as intentional while previously endorsing the contextual use of the same slur in film.

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Jamie Foxx saying its “unacceptable” for John’s tic last night.

In this video ive dug up, discussing use of the word “nigga” he says its cool for Tarantino to say it, because he “uses it correctly”. He acts as if Tarantino is more knowledgeable on how to use the N word than he… pic.twitter.com/smPOQWGLQ8

— SnoopDeg (@SnoopDegB) February 23, 2026

The debate has also reignited discussion of Foxx’s history of portraying disability on screen, including his Oscar-winning turn as Ray Charles in Ray, and the wider question of who gets to define intent when it comes to language and marginalised identities.

Separately, Foxx is currently facing a civil lawsuit in New York from a woman who alleges he sexually assaulted her at a restaurant in 2015. He denies wrongdoing. Some people online say the existence of the allegation makes his dismissal of involuntary behaviour particularly contentious, though the legal case is ongoing.

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Featured image credit: BBC, Javier Rojas/PI via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock