Katie Hopkins, one of the many people that the right-wing Canadian outlet Rebel Media pays to share outrageous views, slammed the idea that the character of James Bond could be played by anybody that wasn’t a white man and slammed actor Idris Elba, who is black, amid speculation that he may play the character in upcoming films.
In a video uploaded yesterday, Hopkins insists that Elba could not play Bond because Bond was written to be played by a white man.
“No Idris Elba, you cannot be James Bond. You will not be 007, no matter how many tweets you put out saying ‘I’m Elba, Idris Elba.’ It’s not because you’re a gentleman of color. It’s because James Bond isn’t. He’s written as an upper-class, arrogant white,” Hopkins said.
She added, “Bond is a nod to a time before when women kept house and men did things of derring-do, when chivalry was still a thing … That’s the glory of the thing, a throwback to times gone by when men were men and women were big-boobed and beautiful, integral to his failure or success.”
Hopkins then turned to lambaste inclusionary casting in films.
“Must we perpetually crowbar-in gender and color in where it doesn’t fit?” Hopkins asked, adding that the only thing worse than a non-white man playing Bond would be a woman in the role.
