2 hours ago
3
"It's a difficult one to talk about."
Benedict Cumberbatch is, as you already know, quite a celebrated actor. He's been nominated for an Oscar twice, and he's beloved by many for his turns as Dr. Strange in the MCU — not to mention his role as the titular detective in the BBC series Sherlock.
Cindy Ord / Getty Images
Of course, even well-regarded actors have lapses in judgment — which is where Benedict's turn as a non-binary character in the 2016 flop Zoolander 2 comes in.
Wilson Webb / ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
In the film, Benedict played a NB model named All — and people were, understandably, pissed. There was even an online petition that referred to the portrayal as "the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority." Very fair criticism!
Wilson Webb / ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
Like so many things, the whole affair has just flat-out not aged well (and it wasn't great to begin with) — and, to his credit, Benedict is more than aware of that.
Christopher Polk / Variety via Getty Images
In a recent interview with Variety, the actor admitted that portraying the role was very much not the right choice. “I’ve had to apologize for that quite a lot. It’s a difficult one to talk about,” he said.
Christopher Polk / Variety via Getty Images
"I love that group of people, and it was the chance to sort of be part of something that the first time around was iconic and I was a huge fan of. But it got complicated and it got misunderstood and I upset people."
Rich Polk / Variety via Getty Images
"I respect that, so I probably wouldn’t do that again now.”
Mat Hayward / Getty Images for IMDb
)
English (US) ·