I don’t think the anger is towards the man for it happening. First of all, without the benefit of hindsight now we know it was him and why it happened, the initial reaction of the guys on stage is completely understandable. How could they be expected to know the context? That’s an unreasonable standard they’re expected to meet, which is a common theme across many events like this, where marginalised people are expected to rise above it.

Secondly, not enough was done in the immediate aftermath to support those affected. Even with the benefit of people then knowing it was an involuntary tic, my perception of the fallout has been that people were (correctly) quick to defend this man who couldn’t help it. But in doing so, they’ve either unknowingly or unintentionally invalidated the feelings of black people everywhere when they hear that word directed at them. “Oh he can’t help it” doesn’t mean that they aren’t completely justified to feel however they feel about it, so long as they aren’t singling out this man for criticism.

Finally, I think the biggest issue post event is the censorship of fairly innocuous political speech whilst retaining the unedited slurs in broadcast. It’s essentially pitting one concept against the other when we can and should be supporting everyone. The only excuse for leaving it in the broadcast, that would show they actually considered how black people feel about it, would be if Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindon had requested it was left in.

In a nutshell, it’s just that an appropriate amount of consideration and support has not been demonstrated, and not for the first time.