Idris Elba is not subscribing to the idea that American actors are being overlooked for roles by casting directors who have developed an infinity for their Black British counterparts.
The topic has been widely debated since 2017 when British-born actor Daniel Kaluuya was nominated for an Oscar for his role in “Get Out.” Fellow actor Samuel L. Jackson caught flak when he spoke out about the casting decision, telling HOT 97’s Ebro Darden, “I tend to wonder what that movie would have been with an American brother who really feels that. Daniel grew up in a country where they’ve been interracial dating for a hundred years. What would a brother from America have made of that role? Some things are universal, but everything ain’t.”
Kaluuya would go on to be cast as Black Panther activist Fred Hampton further fueling the debate. When Damson Idris was cast as South L.A. resident Franklin Saint in FX’s “Snowfall” he too faced a similar scrutiny. The show is based on the ’80s crack epidemic, a reality the London native and fellow Brits did not have to endure or face firsthand. Like in the case of Kaluuya, many people argued Idris’ role should have gone to an American actor.
Like the aforementioned acts, Elba is a British actor who landed his breakout role in the U.S. while starring as Stringer Bell on HBO’s “The Wire.” In the latest episode of “The Shop,” the former PEOPLE “Sexiest Man Alive” said pitting American and British actors against one another is trivial when the argument boils down to blackness. Host Maverick Carter used British actor Naomi Ackie as an example. Ackie is starring as iconic vocalist Whitney Houston in the upcoming biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Carter asked Elba if he thought Ackie’s casting would upset Black American women.
“You know what I noticed? You said Black women in America versus an English woman. Like being English makes you less Black? To me, that defines how unintelligent the argument is. No disrespect to anyone who has that feeling, it is what it is,” said the “Beast” star.
“The fact is: We’re all Black. You get a Scottish actor playing an Irish character or an English actor — you don’t hear about a debate. But amongst ourselves we want to point fingers because we come from a conditioning that makes people just make sure ‘where’re you from?’ and ‘are you authentic from where you’re from? How Black are you?’ And it comes down to the caste system and it’s annoying to me, really annoying,” he explained.
He further lamented, “It’s acting. Cultural appropriation, no. That’s definitely something we should pay attention to. But in the acting profession, one should be allowed to play.”
