Damian Lewis is a television actor. Instead of trying to make the movie-star thing happen, Damian just leans into TV work and aims to be on the best TV shows he can find. His TV projects have included: Band of Brothers, Life (which was canceled way too soon), Homeland, Wolf Hall, To Appomattox and currently the Showtime series Billions. Damian is absolutely posh in the Benedict Cumberbatch/Tom Hiddleston/Eddie Redmayne school of poshness too – Damian came from a wealthy family and his natural British accent is very posh. Damian, like Hiddles and Redmayne, also went to Eton, the poshest of the posh-boy schools. Amongst British actors, there’s a lot of talk about whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing that their industry is being overrun with posh private-school actors. But according to Damian, he’s in the minority!
Damian Lewis has said that being an actor from Eton puts him in a “minority”, saying it is “statistically not true” that privately educated actors are becoming dominant in acting. Asked in a Guardian live Q&A about whether a lack of funding for the arts was leading to less diversity among British actors, the Wolf Hall and Billions star said that it wasn’t true that privately educated actors were overrepresented.
“We have to protect against lack of diversity,” he said. If theatre, film, TV, dance, opera, ballet are going to remain true artforms, they must be reflective of all society. “But that’s a different point from saying that only privately educated actors are becoming dominant in acting, because statistically that’s not true. A handful of actors from privileged backgrounds have done well, very well, and of course that’s high profile news. But whenever I work, wherever I work, as an actor educated at Eton, I’m still always in a minority,” he said.
He went on to say that actors have experiences of being in a minority whatever their background.
“What is true and always rewarding about the acting profession is that everyone has a similar story about them being in a minority. From whatever background. And that coming into the acting profession is when we all finally find likeminded people. But it goes without saying, I hope, that theatre and the arts generally in my view are a fundamental and important part of any child’s education, and to see any more cuts would be sad.”
I AM OPPRESSED AS A MINORITY TOO, cries the posh white man. Only a expensively educated, posh, privileged white guy would actually believe that he’s “always in a minority” as an Eton-educated actor. I know the point he was trying to make, which is that the “problem of poshness” is not as widespread as people believe, and that Damian rarely works with actors who have a similarly posh background. But let’s be real – this is also dismissive of those real minority actors and dismissive of the big issue within the British acting community, which is: if only Eton-and-Cambridge-educated white actors get consistent work, how is that not a huge problem of representation, storytelling and inclusion?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Wow, that was hard to read. He sounds delusional.
This guy and Chris Pratt should hang out. Maybe if they work hard enough they can overcome all the oppression they face as underrepresented minorities.
Ha! So true, Jinni!
It seems like everyone is trying to ride the I-also-am-a-oppressed-minority so pitty me wave. Like there is no other way to talk about your identity and your experience. I thought better of him. How come the educated ones never learn and do not seem smart enough to really understand the world around them?
Chris Pratt has apologized and claimed his remark as incredibly stupid. So let’s not keep bashing him with it, okay? We all misspeak at one time or another. This was his.
I can think of three vivid examples when I was attacked for my race (short, dumpy, blonde-with-glasses and white (actually, pink and blue, but that’s another post for another day). All three times, I was offering help because I saw someone struggling. All three times I was accused of being white (I am) and the only reason I was talking at all was because I was racist. All three times it was about a misbehaving dog. I approached with my regular…”May I help?” and was offering solutions (and/or equipment loans) because that’s what I do. Dog doesn’t care about colour, race or creed and neither do I. I do care about puppies being tied by their necks out on balconies (I offered a harness), a lady being tripped by a flexi-lead (I offered a 6′ leather lead) or a dog running down the street into traffic because it slipped it’s collar (I offered a slip lead and harness). I have plenty spare equipment and am happy to lend, irregardless of gender politics, colour conscienceness, or whatever. I offer to white people, too. I offer to help anyone struggling with a canine companion’s behaviour, but these folks had been so hurt, so beat up, they immediately assumed I was going to hurt them even more, which hurt me, so I did immediately shut up, wish them joy and happiness and doG bless, and left. Some folks hear hurt no matter what one’s intentions might be. Keep on being kind and open hearted.
Not everyone associates being a minority with being oppressed:-) I don’t think he’s claiming oppression, just that he’s in a minority.
Was thinking the same exact thing about the two of them. Before reading this I always thought he was a relatively down to earth, likeable and excellent character actor. What douche statement and I hope for his sake it was taken out of context or at least he apologizes like Pratt for acting like a douche!
Someone needs a big bowl of sit down and shut up.
Haha. I love your line.
This seems to be a reoccurring problem on this site, universalizing the American experience of racism to everywhere. It is true that rich white people are a numerical minority. He did leave out the part where it is also true that they get a disproportionate amount of the good stuff the world has to offer.
When talking about diversity, it’d be nice if he acknowledged that poc actors have a harder time establishing acting careers in the UK.
Maybe because racism is everywhere? Because it is frigging rampant in the Western world right now, I know it’s still there in most South-American countries and I’m pretty sure it’s all over the place in countries like India and China.
The US did not invent racism.
I’m sorry, please point out where I said racism only exists in the US? You completely missed my point. If one is going to challenge and fight racism, one has to understand the social, political and historical context that it takes place in. Each society has its own unique dynamics of oppression. The European project of colonization created the category of whiteness and this played out differently in each locale.
You can’t lump oppression in Asian cultures with oppression in multicultural Europe or North and South America where large numbers of European colonizers settled. For example, discrimination and oppression in India is based primarily on the caste system and religion, not race. I don’t know enough about China to speak about its class structure so I won’t make any crude or inaccurate generalizations about racism in China.
Please don’t attribute your simplistic analysis to my post.
@Sanders Damien has livesd in the US for 10 years. That is more than enough time to figure out that, as a wealthy white man, referring to yourself as a “minority” will be poorly received.
Megan, I don’t doubt that he is ignoring the issues of poc and said so in my post. I’m not at all on the fence about that.
I just wanted to point out that analysis of racism differs from country to country for the reasons I stated in my last post. This includes the language we use to speak about it. I grew up in Canada and learned about racism through personal experience. I learned my political analysis by reading Black, Native and South Asian and Asian intellectuals, mostly all based in the US and Canada. There are similarities, as well as clear differences between the US and Canada. The UK has it’s own unique history and I’m trying to keep an open mind because I simply don’t know everything about racism in the UK. It may be true as others here stated that the word minority is not used in the same way. This is one of the things I like about celebitchy, learning about these things from people who live outside of North America.
Also, we run into the same problem here when we talk about how Chinese or Japanese audiences receive white washing in hollywood films. Many people expect or assume that they will have the same level of disappointment and outrage as those of us who live in the US and Canada. I don’t think that is what happens.
I may have over reacted because I’m still reeling from a previous post about the use of Black to describe Asians and Afro-carribeans in the UK.
He is not delusional, this article is ridiculous. He is saying that going to Eton and wanting get to be an actor made him different. Using the term “minority” was a poor choice but he is not saying “oh poor me, life is so hard”.
I completely agree Jaded. The lack of comprehension is shocking.
If he is so educated then maybe he should chose his words more carefully.
Jesus, only someone who wants to go out of their way to be mean can twist his words to make it look like what he sad was priviledged or wrong. I don’t even like the guy but this post is really off.
Agreed. Minority seems to have become interchangeable with oppressed in the U.S.A. This equivalence does not necessarily exist elsewhere and this is a UK publication.
Minority—noun—definition—the smaller number.
The way his words have been twisted upside down and inside out is ridiculous. I have no problem with his words, his message or his meaning.
If he had said “I’m in the minority” that would probably have been clearer, but still, he was definitely not saying he was part of an oppressed minority, just a member of a group that has a smaller number than another group.
Agree 100%. Also keep in mind that people outside the US aren’t as tuned in to hot button words like “minority”. I don’t think that’s the way he intended the word to be interpreted. He meant in the literal sense, which is true.
He is wrong in his choice of words. His background makes him part of an elite, in the UK even more than elsewhere. He’s part of the elite that has made up the ruling class in Britain for centuries. He isn’t just a minority, he’s part of a dominant minority. It might just be semantics for you, but it makes a great difference in your life .
Anyway, Lewis hasn’t gotten the benefit of the doubt from me since referring to Ian McKellen as a ‘fruity actor’ (and then backtracking when this backfired).
Also, excusing him because you think minority has a different meaning outside of the US is faulty logic. Minority has the same meaning all over the Western world.
He sounds delusional because he purposefully missed the point, and gave some wishy washy answer about how he is indeed a minority to get around the subject. He knew what they were asking. He chose to answer it that way. Super weird.
Yes, my take was that most people going to Eton are not in it for the Arts programs?
The equivalency 100% exists here in the UK – the response to Lewis’ extraordinarily tone deaf and ignorant comments has been far worse and more outraged in the UK and within the UK theatre/film industry than anywhere else. Please don’t try to play this like “oh Americans just don’t understand him because he’s British and racism is totally different there.” No. Pretty much every actor I know things his comments were offensive. And he’s not a minority by any means within the industry. I’ve been in rehearsal rooms multiple times where I’ve been the only person who didn’t go to private/public school.
Yes, quite. His comments were offensive. I very much doubt he intended to appropriate the US sense of minority to mean non-white. I have no doubt whatsoever that he absolutely intended to classwash and deny his class privilege as a factor in his success. Same thing as the Hiddlestwat saying Eton is “just a school” – no, it isn’t. It is the apex of the public school system, which itself is the primary means of class and privilege reproduction in the UK. Parents are buying a lot more than an education.
Just having read the title my first reaction was shut up you pompous privileged fool
Then you read what he actually said……….?
Didn’t change my mind. It may not be what he meant, but he is super tone deaf here. He needs to be careful with the words he uses and the message he is trying to convey
I’m glad I got to hear about the REAL minority today. Don’t those people ever get tired of being so goddam idiotic.
I think he is confused between the terms ‘elite’ and ‘minority’.
or possibly 1% and minority.
I mean technically the top 1% are A minority, but we don’t use those terms because they have different connotations.
Less than half is a minority by definition.
yes, that would be a mathematical fact.
His interpretation of minority is correct. It’s become one more word co-opted by identity politics.
exactly anon. Words change in meaning and connotation, and while minority is technically correct, as LadyT mentioned anything less than 50% is a minority. the word itself now is associated with minority politics, which is very different than a mathematical minority.
I think he has it backwards. My daughter has a BFA in Photography from a top NYC art school. ALL of the jobs available are internships, most of which don’t pay. Some of the graduates told me that the only kids who can afford to stay and live in NYC with no pay are those kids who have parents wealthy enough to pay their rent, give them money for food, entertainment, etc. The lower and middle class kids end up gong home, and giving up their dream because it is just not sustainable unless they are OK with sleeping on friend’s couches for years.
Acting is the same. Only the wealthy can hang in there until they make it.
This is why there is a startling and remarkable lack of diversity in most art forms and acting. Just the rich white kids can wait to be “discovered.”
So he sounds quite ignorant here. The reason there are so many Eton actors making it is because they are the only ones left standing after a few years.
I dunno. Seems to me you read stories about people sleeping on couches, waitering, bus boy jobs, carpentry, temping, etc., while they wait for their break. And really, is NYC the ONLY place to be for the arts? You can’t take your BFA in photography and open a photography business elsewhere in a smaller market and then enter juried exhibitions to start to make your mark? Is that not a use for your photography passion or is it only “jobs in NYC” that are appropriate? Not everyone in the arts is going to be the next big thing. But you can carve out a living or a hobby or some outlet for your passion if you adjust your expectations.
You know who’s in the minority, those who acknowledge their privilege and just get on with it.
True. Dan Stevens is the only one I can recall stating outright that going to a fancy school and then onto a fancier university gave him a massive advantage and that he was thankful for it.
Hiddleston has also stated that he appreciates he has had it a lot easier than most but I do think they must all get fed up of having the same questions rammed down their throats at every interview. They can’t change where they went to school.
Well i am sure black and asian people get tired of having to deal with their race being an issue in casting and consequently in their ability to make a living. So I am sure those poor posh boys can live with the media asking them question uncomfortable questions. Or maybe they should stop making all the expensive universities and public schools they went to part of their brand. Because lets face it all those actors has been sold by their publicists/ teams as better educated/fancier/classier etc than their fellow actors. You can’t have it both ways.
I loved him SO MUCH in Band of Brothers. It hurts to read that’s he’s kind of an ass.
Feel the shame way. He’s such a great character actor and chameleon and this douche statement I truly hope he apologizes for like Chris Pratt recentally did for his ridiculous and similar woes!
I honestly didn’t read it that way at all. He expressed himself poorly (which is ironic for someone educated at Eton I guess) but he didn’t mean he belongs to a minority. He says that as a posh dude he is in the minority on set. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know. But I don’t think for a second he described himself as belonging to a minority.
I read it that way too. And I’m sure there are just a few posh actors on set, but they tend to be top billed.
But it is still annoying how none od the posh actors want to admit how much their background helped them and how problematic class discrimination in the industry is.
I read the same way too.
It was poorely worded, but he wasn’t saying he felt oppressed in some way, but to me he said he doesn’t work with other Eton pupils, and it’s pretty obvious because Eton is an expensive private school and the majority of person who work as actors do not attend to the poshest of posh schools.
Right, he was saying that privately-educated actors are not an absolute majority of actors. And he definitely didn’t say that he was in an oppressed minority.
No, stop excusing him. He’s comparing being in a “minority” due to his vast wealth to being in a minority because race.
He referred to himself as a minority regarding numbers. Not a political minority.
It was a bad choice of words, and he sounds like a dick. But he’s not implying he is oppressed because he went to Eton.
Yes, this. He tried to draw some sort of correlation between being a posh boy from Eton and under representation of minorities. As if being an educated posh actor on set gives him any sort of disadvantage. It doesn’t and never will. No one is ever going to overlook him because he’s too educated. Now, if his intention was to say there’s diversity in education backgrounds, and his background is a small minority, he did a crap job.
When I sit at a table as someone who doesn’t drink and I say that I’m in the minority, I’m comparing myself to a political minority? What? That word doesn’t always have the same meaning in every context. I don’t know where he compared himself to a racial minority but if you can point me to that part of the interview, I’m here. If you mean that last paragraph, yeah, he expressed himself terribly. But what I understand is as an actor you finally find your crowd when you get into acting.
Not everything everyone says is always outrageous.
I believe he was saying that wanting to be an actor at Eton made him a minority.
No he said it’s “statistically rare” to find actors from Eton, which, guess what: by definition, makes him a minority. He did not say he is oppressed or persecuted. He did not even imply it. In fact he went out of his way to say that he would like to see the acting profession become even more diverse. All he was saying is that he disagrees with the notion that Eton/Cambridge educated actors dominate the acting scene and that it is still rare to find someone with his background in the profession. You are deliberately twisting his words to be outraged for no reason.
The context here is everything. The context is the discussion about ethnic minorities and diversity, its not how many people drink. When you are talking about these issues you don’t as a white posh person refer to yourself as a minority: Thats designed to confuse and i don’t think anyone is deliberately twisting his words if they didn’t understand what he was saying. Its him not being aware enough of these issues to choose his words wisely given the context.
@jaded eton takes acting very seriously. They employ top acting teacher that no other school would afford. Its not some kind of outcast thing to do in posh schools most of them have excellent acting programmes.
In the UK posh means anyone who’s middle/upper class and went to a fee paying school, he is both. I can imagine that being ex Eton makes him stick out in the industry but in reality who on set (or in any work place) gives a fk about which school you went to. Privately educated doesn’t mean privileged, a lot of middle class families struggle to send their kids to fee paying schools.
Successful actors from privileged background (like his, Cumberbatch etc..) are in the minority but actors from middle class backgrounds in general are dominant in the industry, with many who went to fee paying schools which have better funded arts programs. He’s just like Bendy in that he’s a bit sensitive about his background. Redmayne tends to handle this sort of thing better.
Digital. I come from a working class family. I want to a state comprehensive. I was bullied at school for being ‘posh’. I wasn’t i just enjoyed enjoyed learning and could read. The word posh is incredibly subjective.
Posh is probably a bad descriptor here anyway.
Posh is a relative term. Posh is anything posher than you cos everyone sees themselves as average. I was common as muck as school and posh at home. Cos I went to a posh school and lived on a working class housing estate.
To the likes of Damian Dipshit, Benny the Bouncer and LEGS, they are normal. Cos they’re not the children of oligarchs, billionaires or aristos. To the rest of us, they are posh.
None of this negates the objective fact that the upper middle and upper classes occupy a disproportionate number of the limited space available in the creative industries in the UK. The top 7% of the population take up more than 50% of the opportunities. Wherever one feels oneself to be on the posh scale, the numbers don’t lie.
Agree that posh is a bad descriptor but I was using my own experiences with the word. I’m from the ass end of nowhere in Scotland so when i was growing up anyone who’s family had a car, sent their kid to the private girls school 20 miles away or went on family holidays were considered ‘posh or middle class’ cause their family had some disposable income.
I guess now people would say I’m middle class – educated to degree level, high earner with disposable income etc.. but when I open my gob certain types of people hear my strong west coast accent I can see them think ‘working class’. Bugs me.
There is far more outrage about the over-representation of posh boys in acting than there is about the over-representation of posh people in the medical profession in the UK. Though there it tends to be posh girls. Any profession involving expensive training and networking is going to have this issue. That’s certainly not to justify it, but it’s a wider problem. Actors just have higher profiles.
Posh is easy to define. It’s the Spice Girl who married the footballer.
He says “We have to protect against lack of diversity…but that’s a different point from saying that only privately educated actors are becoming dominant in acting, because statistically that’s not true. A handful of actors from privileged backgrounds have done well, very well, and of course that’s high profile news. But whenever I work, wherever I work, as an actor educated at Eton, I’m still always in a minority”.
So he is saying that the current discussion regarding the dominance of posh actors is wrong. That we only think that posh actors “have done very well” because “it is high profile news” (he may be pushing the idea that this is fake news). But is this true? Sure there are working class Brits on set but what number are they on the call sheet? Nobody is saying that working class Brits arent on set, we are saying that posh actors are benefitting from a variety of factors that allow them to disproportionately rise to the top. He is in effect denying his privilege and either refuting the plain fact that posh actors dominate the top or suggesting that it shouldnt matter since the plebs get to play supporting no-name roles. Stop defending this douche.
Here’s the thing – in Britain today, only 27% of actors are from working class families. 42% of BAFTA winners went to private school (when only 7% of children are privately educated). 67% of British Oscar winners went to private schools.
Given austerity since 2010, these figures may seem bad now but are only going to get worse. And it does affect the output and the stories told, as well as shutting out opportunity from the bulk of the population.
It is unhealthy for there to be a private school-Oxbridge-we all hire each other nexus in creative industries in the UK but there is one. And we are ALL the poorer for it, regardless of how talented any particular privileged actor may or may not be.
Twatface here just doesn’t like his I AM A MAN OF TALENT identity challenged. It’s not personal, you prat – it’s structural.
Or maybe he doesn’t like to read numbers? I mean, man, statistics are hard…
Sixer you said you went to a posh school. So when you say ‘us’ it doesn’t really wash. I assume you got a good job through your education. Is it well paid? Can you afford to live in a good area with excellent state schools with high levels of parental involvement even if underfunded? To many people that is posh!
Most of the working class actors went to either grammar schools or outstanding state schools. They are normally situated in middle class areas. privilege comes in many forms. Gamma arterton went to agrammar school. Jack O’Connell went to the best school in Derby because he met the religious requirements.
Are you replying to this comment or the one I made above? If it’s this one, I don’t know what you mean by us. I don’t say us. I give the figures and offer the opinion that if our creative industries draw only from a narrow pool, it’s an unhealthy thing.
I did go to a posh school. On the assisted places scheme. But class is social as well as economic, especially in Britain. I’d still identify as working class because it’s as much a cultural thing as it is a wealth thing. Also, my entire extended family is pretty much still working class. Two careers: one in commerce and one in creatives – the first nothing at all to do with having had an elite education; the second quite a bit to do with it in terms of calling upon social networks in order to get a foot in.
Thanks for the statistics. As I say below, this does more to further the argument than the usual articles I read on this subject.
You said in your comment, ‘ To the rest us’. While you may consider yourself working class to most people regardless of the assisted place scheme you are posh.
So he’s wrong. I still don’t think he actually called himself a minority in general. But I get your point.
What I will never get is this British class system. A linguistics prof during my semester in Birmingham tried to explain to a bunch of Erasmus students why – no matter your economic, educational or familial background – some regional variations will always make you appear “lower” class to a lot of people in the UK and you will be treated accordingly.
@ Sara – I live near Derby and had never heard of this school, and its inspection report grade in “Inadequate” so definitely not one of the top schools. And it is not fee paying.
Sara – ok, I get it. You are replying to the comment I made up above not the comment I made on this part of the thread. I am slightly at a loss, however, since you seem to think you are disagreeing with what I said by telling me that posh is a relative term – but that IS what I said. Wherever a person is in the objective socio-economic pecking order, they will define those above them on it as posh. It’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s not about Damian. That is why I said posh is probably not a helpful term to use because everyone personalises it. It’s an objective, structural issue, over-representation of elites in the British creatives, not a personal one.
Littlemiss – it’s both better than and worse than other cultures seem to grasp. Interpersonally, it’s much better than non-Britishers think. Structurally, it’s worse. If that makes sense.
@ littlemissnaughty – Posh is to a great extent to do with old money, or sometimes old aristrocracy. New money can be a lot wealthier than old money but they would not yet be considered posh – give it a generation or two and they may be classed as posh! And often the old money posh folks often don’t have that much money any more! Some posh but broke snobs would look down on nouveau riche folks just because they are nouveau and speakwith a common accent! I worked in a bank for most of my working life and I actually found that many of the old posh were more pleasant and better mannered to deal with than some of the nouveaus. But not always, there are bad ‘uns and good ‘uns in every walk/level of life.
Sixer, in regards to structural inequality even if you banned or dismantled private schools structural inequality will still exist. If all parents started with the belief of education starts at home and had discipline most people paying school fees would use state schools. I went to a state school. My lessons were constantly interupted due to disruptive behaviour that would not be tolerated at most fee paying schools.
@sixer, Thank you for putting out the numbers!
On one end, I was thinking “Well, definition-wise ‘minority’ comes down to actual numbers that aren’t always associated with sociopolitical issues”. For example, I’m in the minority in that I love orange juice with tons of pulp, at least in my office. I know this because one day there was orange juice out for a breakfast and when I remarked how I didn’t like it removed of pulp everyone else at the table wrinkled their nose. So, I could see how (from the most basic of language definitions) he could say “minority” meaning there are literally fewer actors that went to these prestigious schools than actors that went to free schools/no higher ed/limited education.
However….your numbers clearly show that’s not the case. So if we are to take this article as a basic commentary on actual numbers, he’s still wrong.
I read it this way too….. could have expressed himself better given the posh education and background…
All that said… this is probably really wrong of me to say…. but whatever… i’m I the only who finds him to be really unfortunate looking?
Urgh, ok I get the point he was making but using the word minority…no.
Maybe he means if he’s on a film set with hundreds he’s the only or one of the few posh guys so that sort of minority? He bugs me for some reason not sure why maybe it’s his small mouth! I do think these guys should
Just avoid that discussion accept who they are and leave it.
Ha, his tiny mouth is quite unnerving! And I don’t trust ginger guys. But at least there’s nothing he can do about his appearance, unlike his attitude. What a messy word salad that was.
Would it be acceptable to say you don’t trust black guys? Why is it ok to say you don’t trust gingers?
As a mother of a beautiful happy-go-lucky 7 year old “ginger guy” I am quite sad to read you, @Anitas.
Anitas you are a dumb ass
“Would it be acceptable to say you don’t trust black guys? Why is it ok to say you don’t trust gingers?”
Why always Black people? Kindly leave us out of your idiotic false equivalencies.
@loladoesthehula how is this an “idiotic false equivalencie”???
I don’t mean to be rude, but Have people died for having red hair? Is there structural inequality preventing them from holding the same jobs, living in the same places, as other people (I saw sixer said that this issue may have come from discrimination against Irish, so I cannot say if that is still at play or not)?
are people with red hair arrested and sent to prison at disproportional rates compared to the rest of the population, do people feel fear when they see someone with red hair, and also claim red heads (falsely) committed a crime no was around to see? Are they profiled by the police?
are their products sold specifically for gingers to lighten their features to blond, continually telling them their features are impure, dirty, lesser than brown and blonde haired People.
Do red hair people receive stereotyped comments on someone’s class, education, just because of their hair color?
Do people touch their hair without their consent..
I could go on.
@Anitas, why not trust gingers? Were you cheated on or hurt in some way by a ginger? If so,don’t hold it against all of them. Bad attitude to have
Amen @ LOLADOESTHEHULA
@tata you make great points and I’m glad you read sixes comments. John boyega spoke about discrimination in the UK he included Irish. Red heads have certainly not faced the same discrimination that poc have in the US but there was “kick a ginger day” which was basically a day to assault gingers. Gingers are frequently told to change their hair color and tan their skin. Do people fear them bc of their skin, no. Do people call them ugly simply by of their hair, yes. While the specific experience may be different being ostracized for the way you were born is similar. Having people judge you for physical appearance is shit no matter who you are
@Anitas Leave Gingers out of this. Ginger men are very beautiful.
TATA in the UK ginger people are looked down upon for their hair colour. People have been assaulted for it. They are seen as lesser than.
Thank you @Tatas, you said it far more politely than I possibly could have.
“Red heads have certainly not faced the same discrimination that poc have in the US but…”
No buts, there is simply no comparison! Surely you can understand why people who’ve endured 4 hundred years of structural and physical violence find the comparison not only absurd but offensive? Racism has directly caused the deaths of tens of millions of black people (among other horrors) and the death toll is still rising, can the same be said for gingerism? Your struggles can stand on their own merits, leave us the hell out of it.
@loladoesthehula well if you read sixers comments you would know that being a ginger was associated with being Irish. You may not be aware but Irish have been victims of oppression by the British for thousands of years. Irish were murdered, raped and robbed in their own country. Now when said Irish immigrated to England they were often assaulted and denied housing and jobs. The point that Poppy was making that if Anitas made this ignorant comment about any other group of people 90% of the comments on tjis thread would be blasting her and those words. But for some reason when people make rash and ignorant generalizations about gingers we let it slide, that’s not okay.
@Jaded I did read Sixer’s comment, even she conceded that it wasn’t comparable to racism.
@loladoesthehula what she said that it wasn’t comparable today, it’s only been the last 50 years that anti-Irish sentiment has changed in the UK. I hope the same will happen for poc everywhere but let’s be honest there will always be some ignorant fools who will hold onto those old ideas. Again the point was that a comment like Anitas made about any group of people would cause outrage, let’s not anyone get away with being ignorant, no matter who it is directed towards.
Yes, I’m saying that anti-ginger bullying and mockery goes on in the UK today and people have no idea why they do it. But the reason they do it is a cultural hangover from the days when the Irish were stigmatised and structurally oppressed as non-white people are today.
So the personal prejudice has stuck while the structural inequality has faded.
Oppression of the Irish (also non-Irish Catholics) has many hangovers in the UK even today. Some residual sectarianism in some cities, and even the football teams generations of families have supported.
Everybody calm down. It’s a joke, played upon that old meme that gingers have no soul. I’m ginger myself and know what’s it like to be mocked for it. Save your outrage for things that matter.
Poppy and Jaded, please don’t stoop to that level. Gingers might be mocked and yes bullied at school, and that’s not OK, but gingers do not experience systemic discrimination and institutionalized abuse that racial minorities do. Making that equivalency is ridiculous and offensive. Not everything is racism.
But seriously, I don’t want to be an asshole, and I’m sorry for my comment. I don’t distrust ginger guys any more than I distrust any other people. Of course nobody should face prejudice or be harassed for their appearance, and we should preach open-mindedness and acceptance.
“what she said that it wasn’t comparable today”
So you agree that being a ginger in 2017 doesn’t carry the same social implications as being Black in 2017? If so, why do you insist on defending Poppy’s offensive comment?
“I hope the same will happen for poc everywhere but let’s be honest there will always be some ignorant
fools who will hold onto those old ideas”
And till that day comes, I hope white people can stop comparing everything they find hurtful uncomfortable/distasteful to institutional racism.
“Again the point was that a comment like Anitas made about any group of people would cause outrage, let’s not anyone get away with being ignorant, no matter who it is directed towards.”
One of the reasons I hate Poppy’s argument is because at the root of it is the idea that prejudice against Black people is taken more seriously than prejudice against other groups. That Black people aren’t only not oppressed but actually some kind of privileged, protected class is a common attitude among antiblack racists. Again, is it so difficult for you and others to not use Black bodies to make your point? White entitlement is a hell of a drug.
While I would love to continue this conversation I feel you are now being condescending therefore I’m going to end my interaction here. Cheers
Tone policing a Black woman, how original. Cheers indeed.
Wanda that is not true at all! I’m British and a redhead. There’s still a stereotype that gingers get bullied (though personally I’ve never seen or heard of any) but it’s mainly in a jokey sense. There is no widespread anti-redhead bigotry and certainly not comparable to racism.
@ Jaded, well about 800 years not thousands, but apart from that you are spot on!
I think the real question at play here is “what the heck has he done to his eyebrows?” Is he colouring them in?
Who knew they made a burnt sienna sharpie?
Oh but they do! Available at art supply stores. We can draw all sorts of things all over Damian’s face.
Sigh.
All he needs to do now is add a comment about how all the negative press about being too posh is like being raped or that it is worst than the holocaust and he’ll have hit everything on the privileged white man list of tone deaf complaints.
Yeah I know one thing they don’t teach at Eton or Harrow….public relations. 😬
Seriously I kind of get what he’s trying to say but the choice of words! Ugh.
Wow these white dudes want to be oppressed so bad 😂😏
Seriously. Why are white men obsessed about being in a minority?
because they feel like everyone takes it out on them, apparently lol.
No one likes to have judgement passed on themselves based on demographics. Everyone wants to be judged as an individual. When you refer to “those white men”, how different is that from generalizing about “those black women” or “those Muslims”?
…and the redheads.
…and the Irish.
#oppresionisthenewblack
The most oppressed man I ever met was an Irish-American Boston born and sometimes UK based redhead who told me he knew what it was like to be black because, well, look at his hair! Look at his name! The Irish weren’t considered white at one point! No time for that fool. I’m Senegalese and dream to be as “oppressed” as him.
If Chris Pratt’s blue collar nonsense bothered you the other day, you should be equally bothered by the “but I’m Irish!” “but I’m a redhead!” nonsense going on here. Derailing, pure and simple.
Lol @Nafisa, don’t forget my personal favourite: “The Irish were slaves too!1!”, almost always brought up to trivialise the horrors of the Atlantic slave trade.
He said he was a minority not that he was oppressed
I didn’t read it the way you read it at all. He was just countering the allegation that poshly educated actors are seemingly taking over the industry. As for stating that all actors including him feel like a minority, I interpreted this to mean that all actors have an internal or psychological sense of being different or out of step with those around them.
I consider all the celebrity kids getting into the biz thanks to Mom and Dad the real privilege epidemic.
‘He was just countering the allegation that poshly educated actors are seemingly taking over the industry.’
but in britain this is 100% happening, so no countering is needed.
ell – I eventually found the study quoted by the BAFTA report we shared the other month. Here it is: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0038038516629917
Also, you might like @actingclassdoc on the Twatter. Some great clips from an upcoming documentary on there, including from Maxine Peake, Christopher Eccleston and Elliot Barnes-Worrell (I love him).
@Sixer, thanks! i’m gonna read it now. lol at ‘the twatter’, it’s very apt.
You’re right about the celeb kids. Also, Lewis is undoubtedly talented and works hard, it would be wrong to deny him that. But his particular way of being different is of a privileged kind, and he comes across as tone deaf if he doesn’t acknowledge that. He may be the only one with a posh background on set, but he’s more likely going to get pushed to the front of the casting queue because of that, not stuck at the back. With all the period dramas that the British film and TV industry thrives on, posh actors are very much in demand, even if ‘statistically’ there aren’t that many.
Lots of people get leg ups in their careers because of their parents. That goes for all kind of jobs.
do you live in britain Leila? there’s a real social mobility problem in britain, and nowadays only the richest can get into the arts because no one else can afford it.
Yes i do live in Britain. There is a massive problem with social mobilty. Saying that children should not be allowed the same career as their parents though is not on.
You don’t have to come from a posh background to play a posh character is a period drama – its called acting and if you’ve had some sort of voice training you can easily change accents.
Saying that I know a few professional actors who only use their real accents in their personal life and keep their ‘posh’ accents for auditions, industry networking etc.. Casting agents in the UK are notorious for class snobbery, if you don’t sound posh or went to drama school good luck getting on their books, particularly if you want to do theatre – TV and film are easier for people from any background to get work for. As others have said their is a social mobility issue in the UK, the Arts is just one prime and obvious example of this.
this lot of posh boys are delusional. yet another reason why we need to get conservatives out of the way.
Most posh boys are not conservatives, but liberal like you, but yes, they are delusional and fille with hate, like you.
That post of hers didn’t sound that liberal to me!!
‘filled with hate’ lmao
He actually said in the guardian interview that being a ginger was being a minority.
I thought that was what the headline was referring too. Ginger people (especially guys) do NOT have it easy.
sorry but i have to laugh at this. ginger men might have it as difficult as a chubby woman, but they’re not a minority.
Ell in the UK ginger people have a really rough time.
i’m british and live in england, and gingers are still not a minority. are you lot serious?
I live in England and im ginger. Its not easy. Ive had a lot of abuse over it.
right guys, you really need to check your privilege.
being ginger is akin to being overweight; i’m sure it’s not easy, and people can be horrible to you. is it the same thing as being a POC, LGBTQIA or any other minority? no, it isn’t. really, get a grip. especially when we’re talking about a white, rich man who went to eton.
I’m ginger. I’m a woman and my coloring and complexion has always been quite nice, but I’ve still been fairly harassed most of my life. I’ve been brought to tears more times than I can count, and how many people can say they’ve been asked about their pubic hair by almost complete strangers at least 1000 times. I’m not comparing it to being racially discriminated against, but I can sympathize in a small way. I’ve felt very small and ridiculed by something I have no control over. I’ve had men ask to see my vagina in bars, because they’re “curious” don’t get your panties in a twist, blah blah… It’s rough sometimes.
@ell
My comment is not to defend Lewis, it’s just about the “ginger” UK issue.
I have been living in the UK for 5 years and our family has been pretty shocked about the way people talk about “ginger” people here, particulalry the very fair-haired, freckled ones. My daughter told me the other day that someone made a remark that actually made her think of what white people said very outwardly in the old days about black people and she was really stressed out as it was about a friend. Also, one of my kids is ginger so I am particularly attentive to that.
Just up-thread someone said she “didn’t trust gingers”.
I have read nasty comment about DLewis in articles and interviews about his ginger looks that really really bum me out.
On a serious note, there is quite a lot of evidence that anti-ginger prejudice originated with anti-Irish prejudice in Britain. Today, it may well have devolved into mockery of a physical characteristic today, but it does very likely have anti-ethnic roots.
@Sixer That’s what I suspected. We were talking about this with my daughter and I asked her if she knew if this came from an anti-Irish stance. She didn’t dare to ask but it makes sense.
To be honest, there is the same thing in France sometimes (anti-UK+Northern Ireland maybe??).
Back in Portugal ginger women are considered gorgeous but ginger men not so much. Even my mother-in-law who is a bit of a pill, and who is ginger herself (!) says that she doesn’t like ginger men (!).
I seriously don’t think ginger people would ever lose out in a job interview because of their hair colour.
Natural ginger hair is the rarest hair colour in the world, and ginger people stand out, people do think they have the right to comment on ginger hair in a way they wouldn’t about other hair colours.
Being of Irish parentage myself, I have a fair few gingers in the family, none of them ever said they felt picked on because of it, but of course other people might have a different experience.
Anyway I also associate it with the Scots and Vikings as well , so wear your flaming locks with pride gingers.
I got the freckles and pale skin, but not the red hair unfortunately, which is a bummer.
@shelley. You’re right, it’s not a comparable situation. I’d equate it with people who are overweight perhaps? Or have a very distinctive feature, such as massive blond curly afro-hair? It’s not ethnic-based anymore but there are some nasty comments out there and I am happy no one in your family ever had to endure that.
slowsnow – I think it is a dim and distant memory now. I think it would be seriously overegging the pudding to compare it with racism today but that doesn’t mean that ginger kids don’t get a seriously hard time and I can imagine being the target of bullying for any physical characteristic can cause lasting damage. That said, I am pretty sure it all originated with anti-Irish prejudice.
We also used to think left handed people were witches.
I have no idea why human beings are always in search of an other to denigrate but it seems we are.
My ginger boyfriend has been spat on for his hair colour. He was on night out and some one came up to him with a lighter and tried to say him on fire to ‘match his fire pubes’.
@Robin. I’ve been spat at too. Called me a “Mickey” and then proceeded to scream it as I ran away down the street.
Tessa – “mick” is a pejorative term for an Irish person here in the UK.
Im in Canada, a ginger as well and have been teased mercilessly because of my hair color. I’ve also had numerous compliments regarding my hair. My son is a ginger as well. One day while picking him up at school another boy was teasing him about his hair. I felt like beating the shit out of that kid because it brought back so many bad memories of being teased about my hair. I was the only ginger in my class. People are cruel!
@Originaltessa ‘I’ve still been fairly harassed most of my life’.
and that’s your experience, and i wouldn’t undermine it. i can say from my experience as a natural light brunette who dies her hair blonde, i’ve always been harassed by all sorts of men asking to see my vagina to see i was a natural blonde. some men are gross, and that’s a problem, but it’s a lot to do with how they treat women, rather than your hair colour.
as shelley’s comment points out, the difference is that a ginger person, while might be unpleasantly teased for their appearance in a similar way as an overweight person, i doubt that it has any affect on whether people see you as employable or not. the issues that POCS, minorities and LGBTQIA face are completely different, on a completely different scale that doesn’t even begin to compare to being ginger. even if we take into consideration that the ginger problem might possibly have originated from discrimination against irish people, this is most definitely not the case nowadays in 2017 britain.
I’m black. I’ve never knowingly been discriminated against, therefore black people are not discrimated against. It doesn’t work that way. My ginger friends have had people scream GINGER at them. Do people ever about your hair colour at you, Ell?
No of course not. I really don’t think of it as in any way comparable. I hope it didn’t come off that way. I’m just a ginger who has lived the ginger life and have shed my fair share of tears over the color of my hair. It’s mostly the sexual harassment that really got me down. Men buying me red headed sluts at the bar, having the nickname “red snatch” in college, having a man ask me to sleep with him because having sex with a redhead was on his bucket list. I always felt like men saw me as some sort of commodity and they used my hair color as an in to make me feel smaller or less than. My bff in college had a bra size of like EEE or something and we would cry together sometimes. I see it more like having big boobs, or some other feature that’s out of your control that draws a lot of assumptions and unwanted attention.
@Wanda ‘I’ve never knowingly been discriminated against, therefore black people are not discrimated against. It doesn’t work that way.’
that’s not… what i said though? i said that i’m sure gingers have a tough time, as much as overweight people might, and it’s ugly and unfair. but it’s not the same as being a minority.
@Originaltessa ‘I see it more like having big boobs, or some other feature that’s out of your control that draws a lot of assumptions and unwanted attention.’ yes, i agree. unfortunately when it comes to women there’s the addendum that some men treat us as if we were biologically built to their pleasure, so it’s bad enough for any woman, and i would imagine it gets far worse when you have features that make you stand out 🙁
@ ell MOST overweight people could do something about it if they wanted. Ginger people can’t help being ginger, and shouldn’t have to dye their hair. So your orginal comparison a bit unfortunate.
no dave, it isn’t. if only losing weight was as easy as you say, i suppose most people wouldn’t have weight issues. many people struggle with being overweight because of health problems, especially women with hormonal imbalances that aren’t easily fixed and i know tons, so there’s nothing unfortunate in this comparison.
@ ell please read my post again – I said MOST overweight people. And those I refer to could a. lose it b. not put it on in the first place.
I speak from experience – I am overweight and it is my own fault. My sister was a ginger – which was not her fault.
Originaltessa
As a fellow ginger and a fellow woman, I’ve experienced a lot of what you’re talking about. And you nailed it when you said, ‘some other feature that’s out of your control that draws a lot of assumptions and unwanted attention.’ Women get targeted in this way for any reason at all, simply because they’re women. It’s ugly, sexist and misogynist.
It’s hard to find a good parallel for what the stigma for having red hair is really like. At it’s core, it’s people mocking other people for looking different, BUT because it’s not a dominant trait of any given race, it’s hard to make any sort of comparison to racism, and I wouldn’t want to. It’s not the same. I think the stigma around being overweight is a little different. That seems to be a personal judgment of a persons health or lifestyle. I’m not overweight, but somehow I think that kind of judgment would be worse. I wouldn’t want anyone speculating about my health. F off. Being overweight is also fairly common, a sizeable portion of the population. Being a redhead is rare. Your looks are different. That’s it. And SOME people are horribly mean to people they see as different, as we well know. Most people are very nice and look at me with bugged eyes when I tell them some of the crazy crap I’ve dealt with because of the color of my hair. But it only takes a handful of people to really mess with your self esteem and make you feel small for something you have no control over.
Ginger issues aside, anti Irish prejudice still exists in the UK. It’s not as acceptable to be as overtly prejudiced, but it’s there. Hopefully only in a small minority (that word again) of people.
Dear Damian: your wife would be a better Bond than you.
Dear Helen: give your husband a smack, please. Thank you.
His wife is just as pretentious as he is. Both are very talented actors but they do have their heads up their asses a bit.
Aw I love her in Peaky Blinders. Surprised she is considered pretentious.
I adore Helen!!
Actually statistically what he said is true. At the moment there are half a dozen or so prominent actors who went to public school at a time when it has become more expensive for anyone to get into the profession. Funnily enough most of those got into the profession before tuition fees went through the roof, including Lewis, Cumberbatch, Hiddleston, West, Redmayne I hope this is only temporary but it isn’t just acting where this is happening. Strange that it is usually just the men we are talking about and not actresses.
Actually, it’s statistically untrue.
That is what I meant to post so to clarify THIS IS STATISTICALLY UNTRUE.
Doh!
How much more expensive did it get since these guys went to school? Since you’re talking about “profession”, I presume you don’t mean public schools for boys but the expensive acting schools they attended?
Yes, Nanny, tuition fees for University and I guess Drama Schools were introduced in 1998 at a max of £1,000 per annum, then increased to £3,000 and now £9,000. And in the past many students had been eligible for grants to help with living costs. So the costed of higher eduction (post 18 years old) has sky rocketed in the last 20 years.
Nanny – it isn’t really anything to do with undergraduate university fees. These are officially loans but act more like a graduate tax. Any working class kid can get a degree. They just pay back the fees at a percentage of their future incomes.
The problem for the training part is that post-graduate funding is very hard to come by, government loans aren’t available as they are for undergrads, and the fees are considerably more than the set undergraduate fee of £9250 a year. Additionally, all the elite post grad schools have high audition fees, which working class folk can’t pay – especially multiple times as is often required to secure a place.
Access to training probably isn’t the only, or even the most, significant factor.
You have the same issues you have in other countries in that acting is itself a precarious profession and particularly so when you are starting out, so family wealth means you can live between jobs.
Family wealth is even more of a factor since unemployment benefits have had very severe restrictions placed on them under austerity since 2010. So it’s now almost impossible to claim them while not in an acting job and still be available for auditions – to claim unemployment benefits in the UK now, you have to prove you have been job searching for 35 hours a week at least – and for ANY job. not just an acting job because you are an actor. Auditioning like crazy while “on the dole” was what allowed many successful working class actors of previous generations to make it.
Also, and this a factor that may happen elsewhere but may be due to the British class system so happens only here, I don’t know – social closure is a massive issue. People go from private schools to Oxbridge and they hire people like themselves. I very much doubt it’s entirely deliberate but their idea of what is “good” is a narrow one, gleaned from a narrow elite experience. The social networks formed at the elite institutions is what gives the opportunities.
Eh, Eton isn’t the poshest posh boy school…you’ve got Harrow and Charterhouse and Rosenberg and Leysin – people seem to think Eton is the bees knees because every now and then royalty turn up there…but some of the others are more exclusive (and expensive).
(I interview undergrad applicants and we basically get a handbook on this shit to make sure we don’t favour super poshos over ‘normal’ kids blah blah blah)
i don’t understand your point. it’s still pretty posh and very expensive.
Not all private schools are ‘posh.’ There are some very ‘posh’ state schools.
It is the one with the biggest cachet I believe.
Nope – it has become known for accepting people based on wealth, including kids of oligarchs etc. As I said Eton is probably the most well known among us ‘common’ folks, given the ‘royal’ connection – but if you’re looking for cache, Eton is not it.
Those eyebrows though, I think he is having them threaded (badly) or he’s had some badly done botox.
I get the point he is making, but he made it badly. When you are as privileged as he is, you should either own it, or just shut up.
Even gingerism isn’t such a thing any more, thanks to Prince Harry.
I do like him in Billions despite his tiny, Kewpie doll mouth.
He never said he’s oppressed. That’s quite unfair. He merely said that’s as an actor educated at Eton, he’s in a minority. Is that true? I presume it is and that’s he’s responding to the recent concern being expressed that there are too many of them. (what a notion) And, what he actually said is that true art forms must be reflective of society to be relevant.
What is much more interesting is his statement that all actors feel like they are in a minority, from whatever background. He’s well aware of the diversity of backgrounds. There are many thought-provoking aspects about this comment. Do we all (as i believe) see ourselves as somehow different from most other people, in some way? What is that in the human condition that we can all see ourselves as outsiders? And, to go back to his comment, that actors, or perhaps all artists(?) see themselves as part of a minority. Of what sort? Tempermental, artistic, driven, creative (in particular need of validation)? I’d love to have heard more about this idea.
As for him, he’s a fantastic actor and his current show, Billions, is an absolute must-watch in our household.
I honestly can’t read this posh shit anymore. If I have enough money to let my son being educated at a good school then I won’t apologize for that. How the eff do people know how I earned my money? Besides stop blaming guys like Redmayne or Hiddleston. Pretty sure that those guys were just kids. Blame the parent. Not the actor. Why is it so important where those guys went to school? At least Redmayne and Hiddleston don’t hide their background like Hardy is doing. I for don’t care. If the actor is good, then he is good.
Bad choice of words from a good actor. Again and sorry to be tedious, but this is a problem I have read a lot about for the past few years, the effect of the class system on the arts. Being a Yank, I do not know a great deal about it. However, most articles frame this problem around a few well-known actors [mostly the same ones] who are considered evidence that no one who is not rich can be an actor in the UK. Have there been actual studies that show this, and what programs have been undertaken to create more opportunities? Surely that discussion is more worthwhile than the latest Cumberbatch-Hiddleston bashing.
Also, few in America could tell you what Eton is, and we do not associate our actors with where they went to school. Not better or worse, just a different culture. Personally, I wish more of ours had gone to any school. Mr. Pratt?
Wise as ever TG. There are around half a dozen posh actors who get this at every article/interview. Funny how it doesn’t happen with actresses in the same way.
When will people finally start caring about first world rich white men?!?
After a 30 year career heading up Human Resources for a very large organization…….I can say this. Everyone — and I do mean everyone (no hyperbole) — will tell you that they are treated differently than others because (insert something here).
I’ve heard it all — age, gender, religion, sexual orientation are all givens, but I’ve also heard school (“only those who went to trinity are considered”), fraternity, physical size, choice or not of sport (“I’m excluded because I don’t golf/ hunt”), family status (spouse / kids or not)….I could go on but the reader gets the drift.
It was almost hilarious the extent people go to in order to justify or rationalize or stake victimhood. Was it real sometimes? Of course. Was it real every time it was claimed? Roflmao, oh hell no .
+1
That’s quite funny and unsettling at the same time. I guess I was one of those people! I had children very early and I am an introvert. So I didn’t socialise as much as other people and felt excluded by that. Now in my forties, I understand that I have a great career and none of the issues I had were quite so relevant as I thought they were. Granted, I work in a field where you have to go out a lot (social gatherings, gallery openings, dinners etc). But as soon as you make clear that you prefer the other side of the job and are good at what you do, it’s fine.
My experience was that legitimately good work is almost always recognized. Dont get me wrong — cronyism does exist, and I saw my fair share of that being a deciding factor when other things were about equal. But bosses know and want the best employees working for them — it makes their lives easier,
The problem is that doesn’t scale to acting, where you need to be given elite opportunities before you’re even able to show that you can do the job in the first place. The traditional system is still set up so you basically have three options: know the right people; go to RADA et al and get a good showcase role by which to land an agent; spend years doing PSF at the White Bear and doing CD mail outs in the hopes someone will see you and let you audition. Most Spotlight breakdowns are filtered so you’re not even allowed to see them if you’re not with one on the Big 6 agencies! How are actors supposed to get a toe in the door when a hefty percentage of agency slots are taken by people with the “right” connections and you’re not even allowed to submit without good rep?
Isn’t this his 2nd “I meant this, but said that” in recent years? I vaguely remember shade towards other, older actors’ career choices (and Ian McKellan spoke up)…?
Rolling my eyes so hard. He’s a rich white man, yeah he’s the minority, he’s the 1%. Oppressed much? You rule all of us, so shut up.
I truly think people are overreacting and just not getting the context and what he meant.
Also he’s gorgeous and his real accent is sexy. And I loved him on Life. And I love him on Billions.
Yes I would.
Actually… I find him hot too. But I do think he was a bit on the dumb side on this one. 1% and being a minority is not the same thing.
Yeah I’m enjoying Billions far more than I thought I would. Just about everyone in it is reprehensible.
So addictive.
Billions is my one of my absolute favorites.
I rolled my eyes so hard they are stuck.
Just waiting for the “my comment was taken out of context” disclaimer.
OMG he is PEAK translucent. And I thought Tom and Benedict were at the top range of the melanin-deficient dudes. Is that typical of someone “posh”? I mean Duchess Kate is not this blindingly light.
But aren’t we told to slip,slap,slop to stop skin cancer now? And, being ginger, he probably has skin as translucent as it gets and would burn to a crisp when exposed to any sunlight. Some people are just extremely fair skinned, and can no more help it than being short or tall.
LMAO at this comment coming just a few below all of our conversations about how cruel and rude people can be to gingers. Par for the course.
@Loladoesthehula
Thank you. People are forever bringing black people into these things. Sheesh 🙄
Even if he got the statistics wrong (though I still don’t know that we have the percentage of British working actors vs. award winners statistics), he clearly stated he meant numerical minority rather than discriminated-against minority. He also was pretty clear that he was talking about his own experience, which apparently has involved working with few fellow privately educated Brits. Maybe someone more familiar with the cast can assess this claim with respect to Wolf Hall?
Well, of “the top jobs” I can only see that Lewis went to a public school. Although I didn’t go through the lot.
WTF are they teaching them at Eton?!
He should have cried discrimination because he’s a ginger. Would have gotten him more traction.
He’s British!? So surprising. I loved him in the ice skating movie. Toe-pick!!
I dont care where he went to school or the color of his hair I just find him so unattractive. Good actor though.
Do most successful actors come from rich families? I never thought so, but never spent much time researching it. If they don’t, then he spoke the truth.
Yes, they absolutely do.
Hiddleston. Cumberbatch. And now this dude. Is being fug and pretentious a requirement for getting into that school?
Average class size at Eton is 20, according to their website. If 4 of them go on to be A list actors, that’s not a minority. Not to mention their families OWN ALL THE THINGS. Including movies.
I can’t count how many times I’ve been in rehearsal rooms and been one of very few if not the only person not from a privileged background. Maybe on sets with a million extras and u5s it’s different, but there are a hell of a lot more public school actors that just the handful of Brit stars famous enough that American blog readers know about them.
Mastering the art of the tone-deaf word salad must be a required course at Eton.
He said he’s in a minority, not that he actually is a minority.
Whether what he’s saying is true statistically, I have no idea. But I really don’t think he was saying he’s a minority in the vein of a race/ethnicity.