Tourette’s syndrome activist John Davidson, whose vocal tics resulted in him blurting out a racial epithet and other slurs during Sunday’s BAFTAs Awards, said in his first interview since the ceremony that he was seated in front of the microphone despite concerns it’d emphasize the disruptiveness of his tics.

The majority of headlines regarding the incident have revolved around Davidson spouting the “n-word” as “Sinners” stars Delroy Lindo and Michael B. Jordan — who was nominated for best leading actor — presented the award for best visual effects.

In an interview conducted with Variety via email, Davidson — the inspiration behind the BAFTA-winning biopic, “I Swear” — said the film’s team had been assured by BAFTA “that any swearing would be edited out of the broadcast,” which aired on BBC.

“I have made four documentaries with the BBC in the past, and feel that they should have been aware of what to expect from Tourette’s and worked harder to prevent anything that I said — which, after all, was some 40 rows back from the stage — from being included in the broadcast,” said Davidson.

He’s now wondering whether it “was wise” to have a “microphone just in front of me … so close to where I was seated, knowing I would tic.”

Though he initially believed the tics “could not be heard on stage,” he realized the opposite was true when “Delroy and Michael B. Jordan appeared to look up from their role as presenters.” Davidson ultimately decided “to leave to not cause any more upset.”

He shared that he possesses “almost no ability to suppress” his tics: “It simply bursts out of me like a gunshot.”

During the ceremony, Davidson could also be heard saying, “Shut the f— up” and “f— you.”

Davidson also emphasized throughout the interview that his tics “have absolutely nothing to do with what I think, feel or believe. It’s an involuntary neurological misfire. … Tourette’s can make my body or voice do things I don’t mean, and sometimes those tics land on the worst possible words.”

Per the Tourette Association of America, the condition is characterized by sudden, involuntary movements and/or sounds called tics.

Lindo, who is nominated for an Oscar for “Sinners,” told Vanity Fair that, though he and Jordan “did what we had to do” in the moment, he’d hoped “someone from BAFTA (would have) spoke to us afterward.”

The incident prompted producer and editor Jonte Richardson to announce on LinkedIn that he would no longer “contribute my time energy and expertise” to BAFTA’s emerging talent judging panel, as the organization “with its own long history of systemic racism, refuses to acknowledge the harm inflicted on both the Black and disabled communities and offer an appropriate apology.”

The Daily News has reached out to the BAFTAs for comment.

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