‘SNL’ addresses BAFTAs racial slur with tourette’s sketch featuring J.K. Rowling, Jill Zarin, Armie Hammer

NBC’s Saturday Night Live addressed a major issue of the week, the startling event at the BAFTA Film Awards involving Tourette’s advocate John Davidson’s unintentional racial remark, in a deleted sketch that might spark its own debate with its humorous portrayal of the condition.

In the daring, PSA-themed skit named ‘Tourette’s,’ several celebrities, including J.K. Rowling, Mel Gibson, The Real Housewives of New York star Jill Zarin, Armie Hammer, Louis C.K., Bill Cosby and Ye claim they have Tourette’s, suggesting it as a reason for controversial comments or actions they've been involved in.

For example, Zarin, played by Sarah Sherman, whose recent critique of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show video led to her dismissal from the Real Housewives‘ revival series, stated, “I have a serious case of longwinded monologue-style Tourette’s, a condition that impacts nine out of 10 people on Long Island.”

Remarked actor Hammer, portrayed by the episode’s host Connor Storrie, “Most people don’t realise this, but one frequent side effect of Tourette’s is cannibalism.”

Recalling the BAFTA incident, SNL‘s faux Tourette’s PSA was “sponsored by the National Workforce of Rethinking Disabilities, or N.W.O.R.D.”

At the BAFTA event last weekend, Davidson used the N-word towards presenters Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan, along with other offensive remarks earlier during the ceremony. 

The event host Alan Cumming apologised for the “strong language,” explaining it was due to “involuntary verbal tics.” 

The racial remark was included in the BBC’s delayed BAFTA broadcast.