American TV mocked John Davidson’s Tourette syndrome and the whole of Britain responded as one
The reverberations from that Bafta ceremony – you remember – show no sign of going away just yet and this time it’s the goodish people of Saturday Night Live who are at the centre of it.
The SNL team thought it was appropriate to mock John Davidson and his Tourette syndrome with this sketch off the back of the BAFTA Film Awards and they didn’t just fail to read the room, they weren’t even in the right building.
brought to you by the national workforce of rethinking disabilities pic.twitter.com/F5Fj1wpPhJ
— Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) March 1, 2026
And these people – maybe not all from the UK but surely most of them – said it best.
1.
This is genuinely actually one of the most digusting things ive ever seen. A disabled man mocked on prime time american TV, insinuating that tourettes actually is voluntary. Everyone in this sketch should feel ashamed. Comparing John Davidson to Bill Cosby is actually just vile https://t.co/iXClo70TSV
— hodgestick (@hodge_stick) March 1, 2026
2.
Genuinely shameful. The joke is basically nothing more sophisticated than “people with serious disabilities make it up.” That’s before they compare a disabled man, mocked his entire life, to Bill Cosby. Whole thing deserves to become infamous. https://t.co/Bkl0fKVlRI
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) March 2, 2026
3.
Jesus Christ, this is one of the worst things SNL has done https://t.co/Te9ihcdvl4
— Nikolaj🇺🇦🇵🇸 (@nikicaga) March 1, 2026
4.
Crazy how South Park had a full episode on Tourette’s 20 years ago.
And they were drastically funnier, with also showing respect towards the Tourette’s community.
This isn’t funny at all, and just punches down. Just a complete swing and a miss
— Lowest Common Idiots (@LowestComIdiots) March 1, 2026
5.
The joke here appears to be “people with disabilities are faking it” https://t.co/tKc4WCLZK6
— Cassie Pritchard (@hecubian_devil) March 1, 2026
6.
Strip it back and it is simple. A disabled man is being piled on by Hollywood, and they are dressing it up as humour.
John is a better human being than any of these Hollywood luvvies taking cheap shots from a stage ever will be. He lives with a condition most of them would… https://t.co/6TUOxPjOqp
— Alan M (@Heavy_Boab) March 1, 2026
7.
>”Why don’t you have a little empathy and be more like us, the good guys?”
>*bullies someone with an uncontrollable disability*Fuck Hollywood, for real. https://t.co/744r4ueYHU
— Doc Strangelove (@DocStrangelove2) March 2, 2026
8.
Look forward to seeing a skit implying people in wheelchairs are just pretending they can’t walk, next week on SNL. What a fucking horrendous shit show of a skit, everyone involved in putting this on air should be ashamed. https://t.co/HCJIZgVqff
— Otegha K. Uwagba (@OteghaUwagba) March 1, 2026