Baftas N-word Outburst: Shock Fades to Routine Abuse

An incident at the Baftas where the N-word was shouted from the audience by a Tourette syndrome campaigner has sparked debate. The BBC apologized, stating the outburst was due to involuntary verbal tics associated with the condition and not intentional. While acknowledging the medical facts of Tourette syndrome and the need to avoid stigmatizing those with the condition, the author highlights a disturbing trend: the dulling of shock at hearing such racial epithets in mainstream settings.

This normalization of slurs is particularly evident online, where frequent exposure to racial abuse, including the N-word, has become routine digital background noise for many Black users. The author notes that divisive and hurtful rhetoric, once fringe, is now treated as permissible in political debate and online discourse. This desensitization is dangerous, not by creating indifference, but by normalizing proximity to offensive content, thereby raising the threshold for reaction and blurring the line between outrage and resignation.