To have gone right off Benedict Cumberbatch

[UsedToBeAPaxmanFan]

I read today that Benedict Cumberbatch has had to apologise after using the phrase "coloured actors". Coloured? Seriously?

He did apologise and said that he knew it was wrong, but the fact that it was in his head in the first place is what's so troubling. I am older than him and have always known that "coloured" is an offensive term. Yes, I am aware that it wasn't considered so until the late 60s, but it hasn't been acceptable in his lifetime.

What was he not thinking?

Agree its hard to know what word is correct.Lovely dh was mortified by being told not to say 'oriental' when refer to a chinese/Japanese customer in work - as in 'the oriental girl who always orders xyz'
He is definitely not a racist and woule never be derogatory like that

The Native American Name controversy

I get confused by an Indian friend who is actually Scottish. Her parents moved from India, so she would be "Asian" on any form, and her skin and hair colour would identify she has heritage from India. But she is not Asian, she is British and Scottish

But, in as far as we want and need to categorise people by ethnicity, she is Asian. Maybe not by cultural identity but by ethnicity, she is Asian.

And fair point about Pacific Islanders, but technically they are in Asia. Aren't they?

So what are we now supposed to call Australian Aborigines these days? (Just so I don't unintentionally offend someone)

But DrSeth "Colour blind casting" is a million miles from "coloured". Colour blind means blind to any and all colours, coloured implies strongly that darker skins are "other" and that the default skin colour is white.

OP - as others have said, her made a mistake and apologised immediately, appropriately and without excuse. Deciding to "go off him because the word was in his head" says more about you than it does about him.

When did "person of colour" start? Is it used in the UK, or just America? Like Beachcomber I was a little surprised when I first heard it, because it sounded like coloured, and coloured was wrong.

if someone is speaking off the cuff, it's even more revealing, that this is how they think about other people!
Or it could be that he fumbled to think what was the most appropriate word under pressure? There's nothing intrinsically evil about the term coloured - it's outmoded but it isn't like the N word which is 100% derogatory. I can't see any reason to assume the worst of him.

All these people who are saying things 'unintentionally'. Don't they want to educate themselves and get it right? BC does sound quite mortified in his apology - but how can someone like him (ie educated and not a cave-dweller) not know? I find it baffling.

to all those using the 'it's all such a confusing minefield' - you have now (should you have needed it) been made explicitly aware that 'coloured' is not acceptable. how is it difficult to accept this and remember it? I presume you all wear your seatbelt - or do you leave it off because it used to be alright in the 70s?

Yy Kate, I don't think PoC is used here much.

Surf, I too would like to know that term.

I can only think of the time I asked for a cut and blow job in the hairdressers. Sometimes things you really didn't mean to say come out of your mouth. I am heartily glad that I am not in the public eye.

Has anyone ever heard an anecdote of BC behaving in a racist manner? If you look at the staff he employs are they representative heritage-wise?

worldgonecrazy Aboriginal

He did know, MrsMcColl. He made a mistake. A slip of the tongue. A brain fart. It happens. Nothing to be "baffled" about.

Thanks Surf.

Oh crap.

Is oriental racist too?

And fair point about Pacific Islanders, but technically they are in Asia. Aren't they?

They're in Polynesia

I went off Cumberbatch a while ago, he's a dick.

I mean, this list is from 2013 and still manages to hit a few points where he's proved himself to be an arsehole: yourfaveisproblematic.tumblr.com/post/45876576182/benedict-cumberbatch

I agree it can be difficult to keep on top of terms as they change, but I feel that if you're in the public eye and you're going to be talking about things like race, you have a duty to actually use acceptable terms. I don't think "oh it was acceptable when I was growing up" is an excuse at all. There are things that have changed since I was a kid and I manage not to cause offence. I don't think it's that difficult really.

I'm not going to hold it against him.

He was making a very good point and used an incorrect word, realised and then apologised profusely.

I am a foster carer and I used the term "mixed race" in a meeting and was roundly told off for it. I should have said "mixed ethnicity". I am not racist in the slightest, I was simply using what I thought was a descriptive term, my foster child uses the term mixed race to describe themself. You life and learn

Whilst I would never use the term 'coloured', it's never been acceptable in my lifetime, I do think intent is important.

"Person of color" is American. I think it comes from the historical context of segregation and slavery, when people with 'one drop' of African blood were called "coloured" and discriminated against, as well as every other ethnic minority in fact. So people in the US have restyled it 'people of color' as a catch all for anyone who is not white in order to represent the commonality of being a minority ethnic person in the states.

trice

What was he actually saying anyway, did he mean specifically black people, or anyone non-white?

if someone like BC wants to make a contribution to a serious debate, he should make sure he expresses himself respectfully if he wants his point to be heard.

The corollary of this argument is that white people are all so frightened to say anything in case we use the wrong word that the subject is never raised and we talk about fluffy kittens instead. Way to go!