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Roger Moore denies that he said “something racist” about Idris Elba after it was widely reported that he’d told an interviewer he didn’t think the black actor could take over the role of James Bond. Moore, who played 007 in a string of movies from the 1970s to the 1980s, took to Twitter on Saturday to shoot down the rumor.
Elba, of course, has been widely rumored to be a leading candidate to play Bond in the future, although not officially cast in the role. Moore was interviewed in Paris Match magazine, and outlets like the Daily Mail quoted him as saying of a potential black Bond:
A few years ago, I said that [black actor] Cuba Gooding, Jr. would make an excellent Bond, but it was a joke!… Although James may have been played by a Scot, a Welshman and an Irishman, I think he should be ‘English-English.’ Nevertheless, it’s an interesting idea, but unrealistic.
Sean Connery is Scottish, Timothy Dalton is Welsh, and Pierce Brosnan is Irish. Elba, meanwhile, is English by birth. Moore was slammed for his alleged comments. But the older actor says something was lost in translation.
When someone asked him about the quotes on Twitter, Moore replied, “You believe everything you read in the newspapers do you?” He continued, “An interview I gave to Paris Match implies I said something racist about Idris Elba. That is simply untrue. #Lost in translation.” Moore added, “When a journalist asks if ‘bond should be English’ and you agree, then quotes you saying it about Idris Elba its out of context.” In other words, it appears to be yet another media-fueled controversy.
