Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that saying Idris Elba isn't suitable to play Bond because he's 'too street'...

311 replies

BinarySearchTree · 20/09/2017 22:44

... is actually a racist comment, which - however 'jokingly' said - is absolutely not an appropriate thing to say in an office environment?

I'm on week two of a new position and between this kind of thing and other dodgy goings-on am debating whether to hand my notice in.

WIBU to mention my discomfort to line manager (who heard whole thing, laughed along etc.) or alternatively to just cut and run? Am I being a bit sensitive?

OP posts:
FlowerPot1234 · 21/09/2017 07:55

chestylarue52 Which dictionary defines racism in the way you have just described?

DoormatBob · 21/09/2017 07:59

OP, is this your first real job? You sound very precious and everything you describe sounds like fairly standard office banter everywhere I've worked (20 years).

On the original comment you come out sounding more racist as you have taken a personality trait and stereotypically linked it to skin colour although I accept you are just looking for excuse to play the racism card, guessing against middle aged white men (because we are racist by default)?

singingpinkmonkey · 21/09/2017 08:00

*Are you able to clarify why you believe they are being racist? ie. Elba is an inferior man because of his race?

And what do you think the casting process is all about then? Do you think any actor at all can play any role they are given? If you were a casting director, how would you make your choice then?*

This!

It's a shame that people are so quick to call racism.

Idris Elba is a fine actor and very attractive in my view. I don't think he should be Bond, not because I feel he is inferior in any way. Simply because I don't see him as Bond.

It has nothing to do with racism. I don't feel anyone can possibly be inferior due to the colour of their skin, religious beliefs, sex or any other defining trait.

coldcanary · 21/09/2017 08:00

If I were being generous I would think that it was said by someone who had only seen him in one or two hard man roles where he plays characters who would break your nose then sit down with a pint of bitter rather than a cocktail, however it was probably a comment on his skin colour given the other issues you've mentioned.
He's too old to play the role now sadly, he would have been great at it (or Doctor Who) Sad

silkpyjamasallday · 21/09/2017 08:07

That statement would make me uncomfortable, it certainly has racist connotations. My DP is Jamaican, grammar school educated, throughly middle class, people regularly use terms such as street and gangsta about him, and he is neither of those things and if he was white they wouldn't be said. Racism doesn't have to be overt declarations that someone believes black people are lesser, it's the subtle things like equating being street (which isn't ever a positive statement) with blackness. It's equating the lower classes with blackness, the view that black people cannot better themselves or be of a higher class to begin with

There are plenty of black boys at Eton, often from wealthy African families, I know many many 'posh' black girls who have come to live in the uk, educated at boarding school and they still get discriminated against and have assumptions made about them due to the colour of their skin. People assuming their designer handbags are fake, assuming they came to university from an inner city comprehensive school etc. When they are often much more 'well to do' than the person commenting. It's racism.

Idris is an actor, I have no doubt he would own the role. And I love him so he should definitely be Bond and bring something new.

PricklyBall · 21/09/2017 08:11

Yes, it's racist. And the actor's RL background shouldn't be the issue with a good actor - after all, Craig (comes across as solidly middle class in RL) has played very rough gangsters in other films, and Sean Bean (working class in RL) has played a very posh Bond villain.

(On a side note, my mum taught Sean Connery's little brother - that bit of Edinburgh was rough as a dog's arse! Connery genuinely was street!)

makeourfuture · 21/09/2017 08:12

Racism doesn't have to be overt declarations that someone believes black people are lesser, it's the subtle things like equating being street (which isn't ever a positive statement) with blackness

Well said.

If a word like this is in question, just don't use it.

ShatnersWig · 21/09/2017 08:13

Well, Idris Elba doesn't look anything like Hoagy Carmichael, which is how Bond was described more than once in Ian Fleming's novels. But then no one they've cast has really been anything like that.

flemingsbond.com/hoagy-carmichael/

Morifarty · 21/09/2017 08:18

Idris is younger than Daniel Craig.

I don't watch Bond, but if Idris was Bond, I would.

SoupDragon · 21/09/2017 08:18

I don't see Idris as James Bond but I don't think that Danny Dyer could be Bond either.

I've not read the entire thread (slaps own wrist) but this is how I see Idris Elba and his Bond prospects. I'm not sure I've seen him playing anything other than "east end". I have no issues with a non white Bond but I do think he has to be slightly "posh" due to his background.

I'm unable to say whether the original comment was racist or poorly phrased though.

However, only you can judge whether the office environment of this office is right for you. It doesn't sound like a good fit but could that be because you are new? Are you easily able to get a new job? It might be worth looking around for jobs and then handing in your notice when you find one. Working in an environment you don't like is horrible.

NewDaddie · 21/09/2017 08:18

YABU because imo you need to work 'through the system', institutional racism isn't going anywhere and you're going to have a lifetime of misery and possibly achieve less if you try to go against the grain too much.

Be smarter.

It's more 'racist' these days to be an actual victim of racism and have the effrontery to call people out on their racism.

Before 'street' the popular phrase was 'urban'. People congratulated themselves on being part of a 'post-racial society' but then black people started getting murdered again and those same people didn't agree that Black Lives Matter.

Funny that.

Street, urban etc, all very polite, very English ways of labelling, segregating and (maybe inadvertently, like with Idris) demeaning people.

TizzyDongue · 21/09/2017 08:18

Street doesn't necessarily mean racism. In this case it probably was - Idris has shown he can act well so could take on the role of Bond. He's show in his role of Luther he can do ruthless and sinister. Idris can also manage accents.

He probably is too old though. I have in my head bond as being quite lean too (not sure why - is it in the books???)

Skin colour wise I don't think it matters. Bond is British and posh. (Though wasn't he expelled from a publuc school in scotland ratger than went to Eton).

Daniel Craig is defiently my favourite bond so far. Mean and ruthless, and less smooth and (supposedly) handsome.

SoupDragon · 21/09/2017 08:19

Someone mentioned Ross Kemp further down. He doesn't sound anything like Grant Mitchell when he speaks in documentaries or interviews.

AdalindSchade · 21/09/2017 08:22

He's an actor. I'm sure he could manage a posh accent.
Of course they were being racist.

FlowerPot1234 · 21/09/2017 08:23

AdalindSchade How?

DressedCrab · 21/09/2017 08:25

He says "haitch" instead of "aitch". Unforgivable. James Bond wouldn't do that.

HorticultureTwat · 21/09/2017 08:28

I think he'd of been a great bond, if he'd started 10 years ago, I think he'd be too old to just begin as bond now.

maxthemartian · 21/09/2017 08:28

If he managed a Baltimore accent in The Wire I'm sure he'd manage a suitable Bond accent, what with being a professional actor.

illustratednews · 21/09/2017 08:32

Craig (comes across as solidly middle class in RL) has played very rough gangsters in other films

Not well though. He is much more convincing as the public school boy Bond with a Scottish father and a Swiss mother.

FlowerPot1234 · 21/09/2017 08:32

maxthemartian So because he can "manage a suitable Bond accent", he should be Bond? How many professional actors do you think can manage a suitable Bond accent? If the ability to pull off the accent is your deciding factor, how would you decide between the hundreds of thousands of actors who can also do it then?

illustratednews · 21/09/2017 08:34

If he managed a Baltimore accent in The Wire I'm sure he'd manage a suitable Bond accent, what with being a professional actor.

Was it a convincing accent for Idris for a USA market? Have you seen Daniel Craig in Lucky Logan? Not a - convincing accent.

BeatriceBeaudelaire · 21/09/2017 08:37

Saying someone is street is akin to calling them 'urban' or 'ghetto' ....

NewDaddie · 21/09/2017 08:37

Btw Idris Elba wasn't too 'street' to portray a Nobel Laureate and the greatest humanitarian of our time. Nelson Mandela. Bond is a massive step down
*
Ross Kemp and Danny fucking Dyer are not even in the same league as Idris.*

HTH.

maxthemartian · 21/09/2017 08:39

Not sure illustrated... it seemed convincing enough to me. Half that cast were British and it was hugely critically acclaimed and I've certainly never read any complaints about Stringer Bell's accent.

No Flowerpot you silly sausage where did I say that?

PoppyPopcorn · 21/09/2017 08:39

It's not his race. It's his accent mainly - Bond is a middle/upper class gent who was supposedly at Eton. Idris Elba - although a great actor - doesn't have that "Eton" vibe about him and I don't think he could carry it off.

If they were looking for a Black Bond then someone like Adrian Lester would be a choice which was much more in keeping with the character.