Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Horowitz Called Idris Elba "Too Street" and Then Wussed Out.

In an interview with the Daily Mail James Bond novelist Anthony Horowitz call Idris Elba "too street" for the role.  Outrage trolls called down the wrath of almighty Twitter, which immediately exploded with random accusations of racism.  Because "street" can only mean "black.".  It couldn't possibly mean that some of Elba's roles are a little scruffy (See: Luther), so maybe he doesn't have the polished image a James Bond would need.

Of course, these accusations all became questionable the second it came to light that Anthony Horowitz said it wasn't a race thing.  He even gave an example of a black actor (Adrian Lester) who he thought would make a suitable Bond.  And he did this in the same interview, before the Twitter explosion.

No matter.  Having already married themselves to the narrative that this was a racist comment, overwrought activists went into denial mode.  The fact that he said it wasn't "a colour thing" meant that it absolutely was.  Their rationale?  If it wasn't about race, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to say that it wasn't.  This is something only possible with liberal logic.  What actually happened is that Horowitz said it wasn't "a colour thing" to alleviate the concerns of an over-sensitive media ready to turn any random adjective into a "code word" or "microaggression".  Ironically, it had the opposite effect.

Others attempted to explain away the Lester reference.  Perennial racebaiter Ta-Nehisi Coates claimed it was "not an out", because Sony wasn't considering him.  The obvious answer to this is: So what?  Horowitz was asked his opinion.  What Sony thought is irrelevant.  The fact that Horowitz could name a black actor who wasn't too street is exactly an out.

Personally, I don't think Elba is "too street".  If he wasn't too street to play a Norse God, he can handle Bond.  Actors can polish up a scruffy image for a role if they need to.  Remember how scruffy actor Harrison Ford once cleaned up and played the President of the United States?  It's been done before.  Horowitz might have been a bit elitist (the Bond image is a sort of high-falutin', tweed-wearing, upper-crusty type. I.E. the opposite of street.), but that's not inherently racist.

The outrage police quickly scared Anthony Horowitz into submission.  Liberal knees jerked right into Horowitz's balls.  So he apologized profusely and caved to the PC overlords.  Maybe he should have had some backbone, like the fictional character he writes about.  Instead, this is yet another example of political correctness run amok.

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