I get baffled by some of the stories here that don’t make the news, and equally baffled by some that do.

The UK version of the Oscars took place last weekend. It was “recorded live” by the BBC – recorded and then two hours later aired as if it were live.

One of the films up for awards was a biopic of a guy who has Tourette’s. The film itself was a dramatisation, but in the audience was the subject himself – a guy called John Davidson who lives with Tourette’s. So it’s all very contemporary.

All well and good. The newsworthy part of this evening came when two guys were presenting the FX award (totally unrelated to the Tourette’s guy). Both happened to be black. Davidson was heard to say “the N word” (yes, that’s how it was reported on several news outlets).

Now, the result of this was that Davidson voluntarily left the theatre. If anything, it shows how difficult life with Tourette’s must be – unable to safely attend any gathering for fear of blurting something out.

BAFTA apologised to the audience afterwards, explaining about Tourette’s, about how the person has no control over when the ticks occur, or what is said. That all seems fair enough. On top of this, they should have apologised directly to the people affected – Delroy Lindo and Michael B Jordan – in the hope that these men would have understood. I don’t think that happened, but it should have.

The funny thing, though, is that it has set the BBC squirming. You know I said they were recording the event? Well, at first it went out “as is”, and was streamed on their web site “as is”. As far as I am concerned, that is exactly how it should be. Because we should be trying to better understand Tourette’s. (I’m fifty-eight and have never even met anybody with Tourette’s in real life. I’m totally ignorant.)

But then the politics set in. The criticism was levelled, “why didn’t they edit it out of the broadcast?” You know, so as not to offend the sensitive ears of middle England. There was a built-in delay, after all, so it was something they could have done. And they had a team of people for exactly that reason. And who say they removed some of the chap’s other outbursts, they just missed this particular one.

To me, the answer to that is obvious. You broadcast it. Warts and all. You broadcast everything the guy says. You accept that people are walking around amongst us with Tourette’s, and that it can result in them saying (and doing, apparently) some pretty nasty things. But that they can’t help it. As a broadcaster, especially one which likes to badge itself a “public service” broadcaster, you recognise that you are in a position of influence, and you do your best to teach people about it. Anything else is simply attemptting to brush it under the carpet, that black sheep of the family that you’d rather didn’t exist. Or, at least, belonged to another family.

If anything, all you need to do is to flash up some explanation, so viewers understand the context. Simple as.

Don’t sugar-coat it. If somebody shouts “nigger”, report it as such. Yes, it is an offensive word. For my money, it is the most offensive word in the English language. But if there is a good reason why somebody uses it, I will understand. I don’t need a nanny to protect me.

Incidentally, I watched the film yesterday. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s called I Swear and it really is no surprise that it was nominated for awards. And I learned many things about Tourette’s that I didn’t previously know.