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

[totteringg]

John Boyega had a good response to this
I think we should fixate on who is typecasting and putting actors in boxes because of this. Not on making weird adjustments for them. We continuously focus on what we have to do so they don't do this or that. Very worrying. We BLACK and that's that. https://t.co/E0sBLJOBIR
- John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) February 10, 2023

[ladyserenity84]

John said it perfectly, tbqh.

[toxic_illusion]

I love this. While I’m not black, I’m a Latina, I can understand where Idris comes from from a brown perspective. The issue, I feel, is that we should have these conversations within ourselves and our respective communities. Once we involve people who aren’t us, it’s going to get misconstrued.

So on a macro level, John is absolutely right. The focus needs to be on the people who are doing the typecasting. They’re the ones that need to change, not Idris, John, or other black actors

[ambularex]

John is so right. As a black person I’m tired of constantly having to adjust myself so I can outgrow this “box.” Maybe it’s time for the ones doing it to us to change how they treat and see black people.

[aaronnyc89]

[trendsnational]

Lol I keep seeing TikTok’s on how the Brits are always obsessed with calling Americans dumb and that we don’t know geography, but they’re just as dumb. I doubt they know where Wyoming is!

[puramierda]

you reminded me of a video i saw of an english man saying he didn't know they spoke spanish in mexico (he thought they spoke mexican) lmao

[trendsnational]

All of Europe has this snobish attitude towards North and South Americans but they got their problems swept under a rug, like bffr.

[frickinawesome7]

[nomoneyfun]

Maybe it's because I'm a proud Black woman being referred to as a Black [INSERT MY JOB] is a point of pride for me. It means that I come from an inherently critical, radical, and nuanced point of view because I don't take the world as it as (with all its problems and disadvantages for people who look like me) as a given. I also can't believe an artist wouldn't want to be known as a Black artist, but these Black British people are just different.

[vanilla_09]

What...being black doesn't automatically mean you inherently have any of those things unless you actively work on them even as a black person. Like I distinctly remember when Beyoncé was doing her The Gift promo and a lot of Black Americans were making very odd/xenophobic comments about the whole era especially after switching vibes with Renaissance. Y'all are not magically more enlightened than the Black Brits tbh and these types of comments are very telling.

[nomoneyfun]

I like how I talked about MYSELF and my individual Black identity and your response was #notallBlackpeople. Clearly, and also fascinating behavior.

[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, “

[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!

[surfermedley]

“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.”

That’s not really how power works though. My problem with this line of thinking is that the onus is placed on the tenants of the box and not the landlords of the box. Being called a “black actor” can definitely be limiting but I don’t think the solution is to drop the word “black” or “get out of the box”, we need to dismantle the box. You can opt out of it for your own self journey which is absolutely fine but the unfortunate thing about the box is that no one consented to living in it.