Sometimes facing backlash head-on is the best way to deal with it. Idris Elba showed that after he was criticized for posting a photo of himself on Juneteenth.
The image shows the “Luther” actor wearing a black T-shirt with white lettering on the front. The shirt has the words “take my,” followed by “art,” “culture,” “fashion,” “life,” “music” and “science.” “Life” is the only word that’s crossed out on the shirt.
It appears that Elba was acknowledging some of the things that were appropriated from Black people throughout history while at the same time making a statement about Blacks being killed by people from other communities.
Based on the reactions, some people thought Elba was saying that he’s fine with everything being stolen from him as long as he’s able to live. The overall response was that he shouldn’t be OK with anything being pillaged from Black people, whether it’s music, fashion choices, or life itself.
“Not Idris Elba choosing Juneteenth to be the day he disappoints us, these celebs know no bounds,” someone tweeted after seeing the shirt.
“How about we take this shirt and burn it,” wrote someone else.
After becoming aware of the backlash, Elba decided to take a lighthearted approach in his response.
He first deleted the controversial post and replaced it with a photo of a black T-shirt that has the word “Deleted” written across it.
“When your own people weren’t with it,” he captioned the Instagram photo.
Many of the actor’s followers seemingly got a kick out of his response and thanked him for sending it.
“Well played… Well played,” one person responded.
“I love how you did this so effortlessly. No excuses. No defensiveness. No sonnets. No threads. No ifs. No ands. No buts. Just action,” wrote someone else. “We stan a king who is not resistant to learning and being corrected.”
Considering the former “The Wire” star is a known sex symbol, it might not be shocking that someone made a lustful request when they weighed in on the T-shirt controversy.
“We need nudes to forgive and forget,” wrote one of Elba’s admirers.
