Leading experts have condemned the backlash against a Tourette's campaigner after he was heard shouting a racial slur from the audience at the BAFTAs.
John Davidson, whose life inspired the film I Swear, was heard yelling the 'N-word' as actors Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the first award of the night at London's Royal Festival Hall on Sunday.
Host Alan Cumming thanked the audience for their understanding after Mr Davidson, who has Tourette's syndrome, let out repeated involuntary vocal tics.
But the incident sparked outrage online, including from Hollywood figures.
Jamie Foxx commented under a post about the moment, writing: 'Unacceptable' and 'Nah he meant that shit.'
Actor Wendell Pierce added: 'It's infuriating that the first reaction wasn't complete and full-throated apologies to Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan.
'The insult to them takes priority. It doesn't matter the reasoning for the racist slur.'
Now neurologists and Tourette's advocates say the public response has ignored the involuntary nature of the condition.
I Swear details the life of campaigner John, now 54, who was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome at a time when little was known about the condition
Professor Sophie Scott, director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said: 'It is not intentional and people with Tourette's are not trying to shock - despite what people have said in response.
'For people with the syndrome a tic comes on in the same way that we might feel a sneeze. You just can't stop it - it is involuntary.'
She added: 'If you are in the audience, your first thought would not be 'that's someone with Tourette's', and it can be jarring. But in response it is really important that people show empathy.'
Tourette's syndrome is a neurological condition affecting around 300,000 people in the UK, according to the charity Tourettes Action. It causes sudden sounds or movements - known as tics - over which sufferers have no control.
The condition is believed to be linked to overactivity in brain circuits involved in movement and speech.
'The reality is we do not know definitively the pathways that cause Tourette's,' Professor Scott said. 'But we believe it is an overactivity of the movement pathways.'
Tourette's is around four times more common in boys than girls and typically begins around the age of seven. Research suggests around 60 per cent of children grow out of it, though for others it can remain severe into adulthood.
While the condition is often associated with involuntary swearing - known as coprolalia - fewer than 10 per cent of people with Tourette's experience this symptom.
'People with Tourette's do not involuntarily start reciting Shakespeare,' Professor Scott said. 'The brain is naturally drawn to taboo or shock words.'
She explained that these words are part of 'automated speech', generated in emotional regions of the brain.
'People cannot control the response. We see this across speech conditions, including aphasia, where people have been recorded as being non-verbal apart from swear words.'
Professor Scott said the specific words used can change over time depending on social norms.
'People with Tourette's are aware of the words that will provoke an emotive response, which is why this particular slur would have been unlikely to be a tic decades ago, when it was more socially acceptable,' she said.
'Your brain collects these emotively laden bits of speech, which, when you have Tourette's, you cannot control.'
Experts say the condition can have devastating mental-health consequences.
A study published last week in the British Medical Journal found that among 600 people with Tourette's, 58 per cent reported lifetime self-harm, 43 per cent had thought about suicide in the past year, and 27 per cent had attempted suicide at least once.
Broadcaster Aidy Smith, who has Tourette's, said: 'I became one of those statistics.
'That's why it's so important that in moments like this we lead with compassion and try to see the world through someone else's eyes.'
He added: 'For anyone wondering why John said what he did - watch his film, see his journey and witness his Tourette’s for the reality of what it really is. Education and awareness is everything.'
'As a Tourette advocate, it's important for me to say that I fully understand how, without context, hearing such words can create hurt within communities. Those feelings are completely valid.
'But they can co-exist with the knowledge that people with Tourette's and coprolalia mean absolutely no malice or harm.'
Following the incident, Tourettes Action said it was 'incredibly proud' of Mr Davidson and those involved in I Swear, which charts his life after developing the condition aged 12.
A spokesperson said: 'We deeply understand that these words can cause hurt but it is vital the public understands a fundamental truth about Tourette syndrome - tics are involuntary.
'They are not a reflection of a person's beliefs, intentions or character.'
The charity said the backlash had been 'deeply saddening' and confirmed Mr Davidson left the ceremony early.
For him, the backlash must be painfully familiar.
Mr Davidson first became a public face of Tourette's aged 16, when the condition - then barely understood - caused him to jerk, shout and swear uncontrollably in public. His struggles were documented in the 1989 BBC film John's Not Mad, which followed him around his home town of Galashiels in the Scottish Borders.
Now 54, Davidson has spent decades campaigning to explain a condition that affects around one in 100 school-aged children in the UK.
His life inspired the film I Swear, which charts the isolation, misunderstanding and resilience that come with severe Tourette's.
Even moments of honour have been overshadowed by involuntary tics. When Davidson received an MBE at Holyrood Palace in 2019, anxiety intensified his symptoms and he involuntarily shouted 'f the Queen.'
Mortified, he later said he was reassured that Queen Elizabeth II had been briefed on his condition and understood.
'Her Majesty was very kind,' he recalled. 'She was as calm and assured as my granny. She was very good about it.'
Speaking on Times Radio, Ed Palmer, vice-chairman of Tourettes Action, said broadcasters should consider bleeping involuntary slurs in pre-recorded programmes.
'This is one of the most acute examples of where a disability can understandably cause huge offence,' he said.
'If it's being pre-recorded, bleeping it out might be a reasonable compromise - but it has to be taken on a case-by-case basis.'
A BBC spokesperson said: 'We apologise that this was not edited out prior to broadcast and it will now be removed from the version on BBC iPlayer.'