Earlier this year, Elba told Esquire U.K. that he was no longer “describing myself as a Black actor” because “it put me in a box.”
“As humans, we are obsessed with race, and that obsession can really hinder people’s aspirations, hinder people’s growth,” he said. “Racism should be a topic for discussion, sure. Racism is very real. But from my perspective, it’s only as powerful as you allow it to be.”
Ooh, that's a tricky one. I mean, hard disagree on the latter if he means that in general, you can't exactly choose your oppressors. But if he means "in my position" then I can get where he's coming from, and he might actually be doing good by actively trying to normalize black actors as just actors.
For his part, Elba recognized early that this was a no-win scenario for him. “And then if I get it, and it didn’t work, or it did work, would it be because of the color of my skin? That’s a difficult position to put myself into when I don’t need to.”
That sucks! He’d have been amazing. Hell the last Craig movie had a black female as 007, before he took back the reigns.