The thing about Sir Idris Elba’s knighthood is that he absolutely accepted it because he wants to use the attention for good works, to lift up youths and promote peace. It’s the people within the royal institution who have their own agendas when it comes to Idris. They want to say that Idris “picked a side” and that his side is not with Prince Harry and Meghan. That is not Idris’s mindset whatsoever. Idris recently spoke to British GQ about his knighthood, his anti-crime activism and his advocacy for young people. He’s a fantastic guy. Some highlights from GQ:

The James Bond rumors: “It was never legit. It was always just a rumour…I’ve always felt that it’s not a realistic thing. James Bond was written how he was written for a reason. But I was complimented by it. And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a Black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.” He also believes that changing Bond isn’t really necessary. “Bond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good, but let’s not try and make it woke. I think you’ve got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don’t try and answer the world’s taste. Just be Bond.”

Playing Man-At-Arms in Masters of the Universe: “Was I funny?” he asks, mock-seriously, placing his hand flat on the table like he’s making a demand. (He was funny. He looks relieved to hear it.) “I did that for me, man. I remember taking it, thinking, Uhhhh…I suppose at my age, with the kind of things I’ve done, and the kind of things I’m doing, can I get away with being in a film like that? I thought, F–k it, why not? Talk about recasting,” he says. (Man-At-Arms is canonically ginger.) “I was a bit conscious about it. But then I was like, What are you talking about?! Man-At-Arms could be any colour! He’s got green legs, for God’s sake!”

He was knighted because of his services to young people: [His services] which include Don’t Stop Your Future, his campaign against knife crime. Last year, he released a documentary on the BBC, Our Knife Crime Crisis, in which he discussed solutions with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, King Charles himself, and the mothers of victims. “It’s a massive contradiction to what I said earlier,” Elba admits. “I just found myself front and centre, speaking up… Listening to the reports every day – it was hopeless… It was almost, if I was a young person, like, ‘Bruh, I could carry a knife, and no one would know. I could stab someone, and no one would know.’ Because it just seemed so hopeless. And I just thought to myself, Well, I get to stand on a soapbox on Graham Norton all day and talk about stuff, wear a T-shirt and everyone wants to buy it, whatever it is, and like, I should be saying something. I’ve got kids. If anything happened to my kids I’d be f–king devastated,” he says heavily. “So that was it. It wasn’t like ‘Oh I want to campaign.’ It was, ‘Is no one gonna say anything?’” He’s called himself an amplification device.

Music isn’t causing violent youths: “I’m a DJ. I make music. I could hear this nonsense,” he says, and assumes the voice of a clueless posh pundit on talk radio, ranting and waving his fist. “‘It’s the music that’s encouraging this!’” He looks indignant. “No, it’s not. F–k off. It’s not the films; it’s not the music. Music and art reflect life, usually. So life is really what’s popping off. If it’s in the music, it’s because it’s in life.”

The Youth Crisis: “There’s a crisis in our country, and there’s a crisis around the world, where young people are just a bit like, ‘What the f–k?’ They can’t relate… These young people are looking at the leaders – the so-called authorities – and going, ‘Who are these people?’ Because they’re looking over them, not coming down. They don’t relate.”

Changing of the guards: “There’s a changing of the guards in the world. Generationally, my age – we’re on the way out. And that new generation that’s being born today, what is it that’s there for them? What do you want to leave for that? That’s what I’m living for. Because when we’re in that room, and someone’s dressing our body, all that’s left of you is the legacy of what you’ve done. That’s important to me.”

He’s not a hero: “I struggle with it, a little bit. The responsibility, accepting it, like, Yes! I’m an upstanding hero! I’m a role model! I’m not. I’m imperfect, massively. That line, that cusp, is hard to maintain: you’re either a hero, or you’re not – which is it? And I sort of sit in the middle. I didn’t ever chase being a knight. Or chase being a sort of public hero – that’s not what I’m chasing.”

[From British GQ]

What’s crazy is that Idris is Gen X – he’s 53 – and his generation “should” be in charge. There should be a political and economic class of 40-somethings and 50-somethings running everything, everywhere. But there isn’t, and it’s bizarre. Is it a Gen X thing or a Boomer thing? Discuss. As for his work – he’s donating his time and energy for so many years, and I appreciate that he’s basically saying “I care about this stuff, I’m not doing it to be branded a hero.” That’s what makes him heroic and cool!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of British GQ.