Idris Elba’s ‘John Luthor’ SLAMMED By BBC Diversity Chief For Not Being “Black Enough”!

Idris Elba has been a world renowned actor for years, and his role as John Luthor on Luthor has catapulted him to greater heights as he’s won a Golden Globe and received recognition from the NAACP.

The show’s a hit with fans and the future looks bright, but then came an unexpected twist, courtesy of Miranda Wayland, head of BBC’s Diversity and Inclusion division.

During a discussion at the MIPTV conference, she said the character Luthor was “authentic” enough.

BBC Says Idris Elba’s Luthor Isn’t Black Enough

(Transcript courtesy of Indiewire.com)

“When [‘Luther’] first came out everybody loved the fact that Idris Elba was in there — a really strong, Black character lead. We all fell in love with him. Who didn’t, right? But after you got into about the second series you got kind of like, ‘OK, he doesn’t have any Black friends, he doesn’t eat any Caribbean food, this doesn’t feel authentic.

“It’s great having those big landmark shows with those key characters, but it’s about making sure everything around them, their environment, their culture, the set is absolutely reflective. It will be very much about how can we make sure that this program is authentic in terms of the storytelling.”

This didn’t go over as well as many could have expected.

Fans and critics alike have spoken out, many, like Calvin Robinson, pointing out the flaws in the logic involved.

The backlash

For many, it’s a stereotype being used to combat a stereotype and it shows a distinct problem in today’s society where we’re trying so hard to fix a problem or perceived problem that we can actually make it worse unintentionally.

This has resulted in a backlash on BBC and the Diversity and Inclusion division specifically as fans have voiced their opinions across social media.

It’s also made the rounds on Youtube as several channels have picked up on it and weighed in, and not in the best of lights for BBC.

At some point we diverged from looking at each other as equals and have started to check the appropriate boxes to prove who we are.

When does mutual respect for each other once more replace the need to separate and use stereotypes to define a character or person instead of the character of the person or character?

These are questions that’ll be asked more than not in the coming days, and we hope that understanding a culture will mean we don’t need stereotypes to define them.

This is going to be a lump BBC’s going to have to deal with and it’s their own devising.

For any other soap opera and entertainment news, please visit again Daily Soap Dish. Don’t forget to visit TVRocker for all of the latest exciting news on all of your favorite daytime television soaps.

Load more...
BBCGolden GlobeIdris Elba
Comments (0)
Add Comment