Award host Deon Cole faces backlash for Tourette's joke after BAFTAs racial slur controversy

Deon Cole has been criticised for mocking people with Tourette's following a viral moment that took place at the BAFTAs.

The BAFTAs took place on February 22 and saw the likes of Sean Penn, Jessie Buckley, and Robert Aramayo take home awards.

But it wasn't necessarily the night's winners that got people talking, but an undeniably uncomfortable moment that Tourette's syndrome activist John Davidson shouted the N-word when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were on stage.

Part of the condition causes people to involuntary tic. What they might say in this moment is 'not a reflection of a person’s beliefs, intentions or character', charity Tourette's Action said following the BAFTAs incident.

While Tourette's is a disability, Deon Cole – who hosted Saturday's NAACP Image Awards – poked fun about it and the moment involving Davidson last month.

In a spoof prayer he said in front of the audience, Cole quipped: "If there are any white men in the room with Tourette's, I advise you to tell them to read the room, Lord. It might not go the way they thinketh."

He added: "Whatever medicine they on, they better double up on it, Lord."

People have since criticised Cole for his remarks in light of the fact that a person with Tourette's cannot control their tics.

"Making fun of people with disabilities is not funny and he did not have to say it in a racist way either, this is very shameful," somebody said on Twitter.

"Mocking a disability, Bravo," wrote another, adding: "This from a community that have been mistreated; oppressed and have had to fight for equality …. This isn't the flex you think it is and is arming those who oppose to equality."

Host Deon Cole opens the #NAACPImageAwards with a prayer. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/RJTMTYKIvo

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 1, 2026

A third continued: "The joke about the 'white man with Tourette’s reading the room' is in poor taste. Empathy is not strong or even present."

Another person wrote in defense of those with Tourette's: "I'm 100% sure that any 'white men with Tourette' would rather NOT have a disability that already makes living their life hell if they had the choice.

"If there was any possibility at all that they could 'read the room' and just decide NOT to have Tourette's, they would."

Elsewhere at the NAACP Image Awards, Delroy Lindo himself addressed what happened at the BAFTAs.

He said: "I’d just like to officially say, I appreciate, we appreciate all the support and love we have been shown in the aftermath of what happened last weekend. It means a lot to us."

UNILAD has approached Cole's rep for comment.