Exclusive | Google sends n-word in BAFTAs news alert, company apologises
Tech giant says it is “sorry for this mistake” after racial slur appeared in mass news alert about BAFTAs controversy
Google has apologised after its news notification system sent a push alert to users containing the n-word, in the wake of the BAFTAs controversy.
During the awards on Sunday, the n-word was heard while Black actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan were presenting an award.
The outburst was later confirmed to be by Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson, who lives with the condition and said it formed part of an involuntary tic.
The notification, which promoted a Hollywood Reporter article about the incident, appeared on users’ phones with the racial slur visible in the preview text.
A Google spokesperson told Black Current News: “We’re sorry for this mistake.
“We’ve removed the offensive notification and are working to prevent this from happening again.”
A screenshot shared online shows the alert reading: “See more on” followed by the n-word written in full within the summary.
The notification was distributed to an unknown number of users.
The episode comes amid continuing fallout from the BAFTAs ceremony, including the resignation of a BAFTA Emerging Talent judge who has previously worked with Beyoncé. The withdrawal was first reported by Black Current News.
Black filmmaker Jonte Richardson announced on Monday that he was stepping down from the BAFTA Emerging Talent judging panel, saying he could not continue working with an organisation that had “failed to safeguard the dignity of its Black guests, members and the Black creative community”.
While tics associated with Tourette syndrome are involuntary, debate has centred on how the moment was handled editorially and institutionally by the BBC and BAFTA, including questions about duty of care to Black attendees and audiences.
The BBC did not edit the slur from the pre-recorded broadcast, though other remarks during the ceremony, including a “free Palestine” statement, were absent from the final televised edit.
In the aftermath, questions were raised about whether BAFTA offered support to actors Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan, who were presenting an award when the slur was heard.
Hannah Beachler, the Oscar-winning production designer, was also present at the ceremony and has said the n-word was shouted at her and another Black woman during the incident.
Both the BBC and BAFTA have since apologised, while the slur has since been removed from the version of the ceremony currently available on BBC iPlayer.
In this case, the Google notification was not a live broadcast error but a platform-level distribution issue.
Online condemnation of Google was swift.
Social media personality Danny Price, who was among the first to share a screenshot of the notification, wrote: “What an interesting Black History Month this has turned out to be.”
Activist and award-winning filmmaker Misan Harriman also reposted the screenshot on Instagram, captioning it: “I’m tired y’all.”
Other users expressed disbelief. “I beg your finest pardon? Google sent out what? This is very deliberate. You cannot convince me otherwise,” one person wrote.
It remains unclear how the notification was generated and approved before being sent to users.
Google uses automated systems and editorial processes across its news products, but the company has not specified what safeguards apply to push alerts of this kind.
Tech companies routinely deploy content moderation tools to detect hate speech and other harmful language.
Whether such filters are applied to news notifications, and whether any human oversight is involved before alerts are distributed at scale, is not yet known.
Black Current News has asked Google to clarify what review mechanisms exist and how the slur passed through them.
This incident also arrives amid heightened racial tensions in the UK.
Race hate crimes have risen in recent years and public discourse has grown increasingly polarised.
In that context, the mass redistribution of a racial slur, even as part of reporting, carries particular weight.
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