Idris Elba refuses to call himself a black actor to take the ‘power’ away from racism

Idris Elba gets candid on systemic racism in Hollywood and how he tackles it as an actor.

In an interview with Esquire, Idris Elba said that he no longer categorises himself as a “black actor” because he basing his career on skin colour “put me in a box.”

The actor, whose much-awaited film Luther: The Fallen Sun is set to release, remarked, “I stopped describing myself as a Black actor when I realised 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.”

Idris, 50, also shared that he doesn’t want to be remembered because of his blackness, as he comes from the Black community, but because of his work as an actor, cited from Daily Mail.

He continued, “As you get up the ladder, you get asked what it’s like to be the first Black to do this or that.”

The Suicide Squad star further added, “Well, it’s the same as it would be if I were white. It’s the first time for me. I don’t want to be the first Black. I’m the first Idris.”

[via]