Idris Elba: Don’t Call Me A Black Actor, Don’t Put Me in Box
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Loading... - Claire James
- 16 Mar 2023
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Hollywood star Idris Elba sparked a major debate last month when he said he no longer describes himself as a “Black actor.”
The British actor, whose fans rallied for him to be the next “James Bond,” said in an interview with Esquire UK, “Of course, I’m a member of the Black community. You say a prominent one. But when I go to America, I’m a prominent member of the British community. ‘Oh, U.K.’s in the house!’ If we spent half the time not talking about the differences but the similarities between us, the entire planet would have a shift in the way we deal with each other.”
The “Luther” star said he has stopped calling himself “a Black actor” after it became limiting.
“As humans, we are obsessed with race,” Elba noted. “And that obsession can really hinder people’s aspirations, hinder people’s growth. Racism should be a topic for discussion, sure. Racism is very real. But from my perspective, it’s only as powerful as you allow it to be. I stopped describing myself as a Black actor when I realized it put me in a box. We’ve got to grow. We’ve got to. Our skin is no more than that: it’s just skin. Rant over.”
But he noted that it was a lack of diversity in Hollywood that promoted him to enter acting in the first place. Elba recalled becoming an actor because he “didn’t see Black people doing it, and I wanted to change that.” Read More…
