BBC Radio 1 apologises for airing Childish Gambino N-word
BBC Radio 1 reportedly aired two mentions of the N-word by Childish Gambino on the same day earlier this month.
During the Newsbeat segment, the radio station played a song that mentioned the racial slur at 12:45pm and 5:45pm.
The Gambino track was played on April 1st in a news bulletin that referenced The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
A source told The Sun, “A Childish Gambino track with the N-word in the lyrics was used during a news package played in two bulletins. It was an appalling oversight in the edit suite. They have had to progress with all-staff training to prevent a repeat – but of course that’s thrown a spotlight on the incident.”
Following the incident, the BBC issued a statement apologising for the error. “We are very sorry this was broadcast,” they said. “We should not have included this clip in this news report, and we removed the clip from Sounds when we realised the error.”
Childish Gambino (real name Donald Glover) stars in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie as Yoshi. Speaking on a red carpet, he joked about receiving an Oscar nomination for his role.
“I’ll be surprised if I’m not nominated for an Oscar for this,” he said. “It’d be really strange because the spectrum of what I’m doing in this is pretty, I don’t want to say Daniel Day-Lewisesque, but it’s kind of in that range. But I think the spectrum of doing the Yoshi noises, I think, is good. I think I did a good enough job.”
He continued, “It’s been a blast. Like, I just feel like I’ve actually pushed myself, I think, in a new direction. I’ve never had to work so hard … There’s a pressure to be iconic and make this something that the fans will enjoy too. So I felt good about that.”
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is his first role since starring as Simba in 2024’s Mufasa: The Lion King.