Actor Roger Moore is saying his comments about black actor Idris Elba playing James Bond in a French magazine were taken out of context and weren't meant to be racist.
The comments set off a social media backlash against the 87-year-old Moore, best known for playing Agent 007. Elba has been considered as a replacement for Daniel Craig, the current James Bond.
"A few years ago, I said that Cuba Gooding Jr. would make an excellent Bond, but it was a joke!" Moore was quoted by the
Guardian as saying in the French magazine Paris Match. "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."
That brought some stern comments from social media.
Moore tried to calm the firestorm over the weekend by going to Twitter to claim he was quoted out of context.
Benjamin Locoge of
Paris Match's culture section, told Agence France-Presse that Moore's quotation in the magazine was accurate, saying a recording of the conversation "backs up that Roger Moore's words have been faithfully transcribed."
"The journalist (who conducted the interview) is certain about the term 'English-English:' he said it like that, it's on the tape," Locoge told AFP. "Roger Moore implies that it would be difficult to have a black James Bond in the sense that one cannot imagine General de Gaulle being played by a black actor and James Brown by a white (actor)."
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