Google issues statement after horrifically offensive BAFTAs Tourette’s news alert

After the John Davidson Tourette’s incident at the BAFTAs, Google have apologised for an extremely offensive news alert, blaming it on a “tech error”.

During the BAFTAs last weekend, Tourette’s advocate John Davidson was recorded saying an offensive racial slur as a tic when Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage. The activist has since apologised for the incident, and the BBC have explained why this wasn’t cut out.

Google News sent its users a news alert referencing an article by The Hollywood Reporter about the scandal. The notification included the N-word, uncensored and without context. The error was quickly corrected, but not before people got screenshots that quickly went viral.

via X

In a statement issued to Deadline, Google blamed it on a “tech issue” and apologised for the offence it caused.

“We’re very sorry for this mistake. We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again,” the statement said.

People on X assumed this offensive alert came through because it was generated by AI, but Google has since shut down this rumour.

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They claimed the system “recognised a euphemism for an offensive term on several web pages, and accidentally applied the offensive term to the notification text.”

“This system error did not involve AI. Our safety filters did not properly trigger, which is what caused this,” the statement added.

In the aftermath of the BAFTAs, the BBC has issued an apology to everyone affected by the situation, saying they will learn from the incident.

“We take full responsibility for putting our guests in a very difficult situation, and we apologise to all,” the statement said.

“We will learn from this and keep inclusion at the core of all we do, maintaining our belief in film and storytelling as a critical conduit for compassion and empathy.”

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Featured image via BBC/X