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Idris Elba Reveals Why He Rejects ‘Black Actor’ Label: ‘It Put Me In A Box’

<p>UPDATE&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Idris Elba further explained his stance on social media&comma; noting that he simply believes that professions &&num;8220&semi;are not defined by race&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However&comma; he clarified that he certainly considers himself a Black man and noted that it is other people&&num;8217&semi;s prerogative to &&num;8220&semi;define &lbrack;their&rsqb; work by &lbrack;their&rsqb; race&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In other words&comma; he said what he said&comma; but he doesn&&num;8217&semi;t think it should be a big deal&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-instagram data-shortcode&equals;"Coh&lowbar;fWapFRS" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"600" data-captioned><&sol;amp-instagram><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ORIGINAL&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>During a recent interview with <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;esquire&period;com&sol;uk&sol;culture&sol;a42621203&sol;idris-elba-interview-luther&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener"><em>Esquire<&sol;em><&sol;a>&comma; Idris Elba candidly addressed why he doesn&&num;8217&semi;t describe himself as a &&num;8220&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;tsr-you-are-appreciated-these-underrated-black-actors-actresses-should-be-your-faves&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Black actor<&sol;a>&&num;8221&semi; anymore&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Idris Elba Says The World Is &&num;8216&semi;Obsessed&&num;8217&semi; With Race<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The <em>Thor&colon; Ragnarok <&sol;em>star started off by noting that people &&num;8220&semi;are obsessed with race&period;&&num;8221&semi; As a result&comma; he feels as though people&&num;8217&semi;s &&num;8220&semi;aspirations&&num;8221&semi; and &&num;8220&semi;growth&&num;8221&semi; can be negatively impacted by this &&num;8220&semi;obsession&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also said that&comma; in his eyes&comma; racism is &&num;8220&semi;only as powerful as you allow it to be&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;As humans&comma; we are obsessed with race&period; And that obsession can really hinder people’s aspirations&comma; hinder people’s growth&period; Racism should be a topic for discussion&comma; sure&period; Racism is very real&period; But from my perspective&comma; it’s only as powerful as you allow it to be&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">The Actor Doesn&&num;8217&semi;t Center His Work Around His Race&colon; &&num;8216&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s Just Skin&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>While on the subject&comma; Idris pointed out&comma; &&num;8220&semi;If we spent half the time not talking about the differences but the similarities between us&comma; the entire planet would have a shift in the way we deal with each other&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the spirit of not highlighting the differences that exist between people&comma; Idris decided to stop referring to himself as a &&num;8220&semi;Black actor&comma;&&num;8221&semi; as it &&num;8220&semi;puts &lbrack;him&rsqb; in a box&period;&&num;8221&semi; After all&comma; &&num;8220&semi;our skin is no more than&&num;8230&semi;just skin&comma;&&num;8221&semi; as he says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;I stopped describing myself as a Black actor when I realised it put me in a box&period; We’ve got to grow&period; We’ve got to&period; Our skin is no more than that&colon; it’s just skin&period; Rant over&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>Idris Elba proceeded to also share that he didn&&num;8217&semi;t become an actor to break down barriers&period; Instead&comma; he merely thought he &&num;8220&semi;could do a good job at it&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As a result&comma; he doesn&&num;8217&semi;t feed into the hype surrounding him being &&num;8220&semi;the first Black to do this or that&period;&&num;8221&semi; He explains his rationale by noting&comma; &&num;8220&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t want to be the first Black&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m the first Idris&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote><p>&&num;8220&semi;I didn&&num;8217&semi;t become an actor because I didn’t see Black people doing it and I wanted to change that&period; I did it because I thought that’s a great profession and I could do a good job at it&period; As you get up the ladder&comma; you get asked what it’s like to be the first Black to do this or that&period; Well&comma; it’s the same as it would be if I were white&period; It’s the first time for <em>me<&sol;em>&period; I don’t want to be the first Black&period; I’m the first Idris&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p><&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>In other words&comma; Idris is killin&&num;8217&semi; the acting game for the sake of being a great star—not for any recognition that centers on him being a Black trailblazer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Twitter Responds To Idris&colon; &&num;8216&semi;What A Thing To Say During BHM&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; left&semi;">Understandably&comma; this sentiment was a bit polarizing on Twitter&comma; and you can check out some reactions down below&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1624036909008969734" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1624060796748677120" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1624074499728584709" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1623757348874461189" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-twitter data-tweetid&equals;"1624054110898069505" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"600" height&equals;"480"><&sol;amp-twitter><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What do you think about Idris Elba&&num;8217&semi;s commentary&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"111686" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;idris-elba-rejects-black-actor-label&sol;" data-secure&equals;"b4292fe731"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; &num;000000&semi;font-size&colon; 25px&semi;font-weight&colon; 600&semi;">What Do You Think Roomies&quest;<&sol;div> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions wpra-static-emojis size-medium" style&equals;"border-color&colon; &num;ffffff&semi;border-width&colon; 0px&semi;border-radius&colon; 50px&semi;border-style&colon; solid&semi;background&colon; &num;ffffff&semi;">&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"emoji-8 wpra-reaction wpra-pad-fix" data-count&equals;"" data-emoji&lowbar;id&equals;"8"> <div class&equals;"wpra-plus-one">&plus;1<&sol;div>&Tab; 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Nick Fenley

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