Idris Elba Clarified His Comments After Saying He No Longer Calls Himself a “Black Actor”

[hewontgo]

Idris Elba Responds to Debate Over the Star Saying He No Longer Calls Himself a “Black Actor” https://t.co/W8HGYwkPEh
- The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 11, 2023
Idris Elba is addressing social media debate after saying he no longer describes himself as a Black actor because he found he was put “in a box.” On Twitter he clarified his recent

Comments

[sprty]

he’s not necessarily wrong but his “racism is as powerful as you make it” sentiment makes me think this is coming from an old school, pseudo-colorblind sentiment and not a more contemporary recognition and acceptance of himself as a black person both acknowledging but choosing not to succumb to the v much racist society we live in. i’m obviously pontificating though since i don’t know him, but neither he nor john (wrt the tweet posted further up in the comments) are wrong; this is just such a complex, nuanced conversation that hinges almost exclusively on how you specifically as a person not only move through the world but how it affects you too so it’ll never land in territory that we can all agree on. the onus of responsibility regarding what he’s referring to is on non-black people but we all know the world we live in so we ultimately take matters into our own hands. i can understand and empathize w learning to atomize how you wish for your blackness to be perceived. i think it’s a power struggle we all have w ourselves - like, “why can’t i just be a person; why am i seen only as black person?” you don’t want your blackness erased but you don’t want it being the only thing people see of you either. what empowers you can isolate you too, but that’s only because the world we live in is functioning exactly as it wishes, which is to say they’d rather us fight abt whether we should castigate ourselves for the color of our skin rather than dismantle the systems that made us develop these convoluted relationships w ourselves in the first place

also phew, i did not mean to write an essay

[muffintiem]

no you made a lot of good points here

Idris has the added benefit of being both conventionally attractive (by Western standards) AND fitting a masculine ideal, something that gives him privilege in an industry that continually forces BIPOC into very specific roles and spaces

Ugly white actors have no problem finding success in Hollywood, the same cannot be said for men of color

[sprty]

this is so, so true! whiteness allows actors who are perceived as ugly to become characters actors, but that chance isn’t even an option for actors of color and likely isn’t even a thought that’s crossed idris’s mind!