Anthony Horowitz is doing some serious backpedaling.
The author of the new James Bond novel, Trigger Mortis, opened himself a can of serious social media whoop ass after telling the Daily Mail that he thinks Idris Elba is too “street” to play 007.
Wait, whaaaat?!!!! Are we thinking of the same Idris Elba here?!!!
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Now, taken out of context that comment sounds seriously racist, but, in the interview, Horowitz, explained it wasn’t a matter of color, rather of “being suave” enough….
Once again, begging the question—Wait, whaaaat?!!!! Are we thinking of the same Idris Elba here?!!!
“Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would [play Bond] better,” Horowitz opined. “His name’s Adrian Lester, star of Hustle.
“For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a color issue. I think he is probably a bit too ‘street’ for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah.”
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After getting seriously schooled on Elba’s innate sauve-ness, courtesy a multitude of angry tweets, Horowitz took to social media himself to issue an apology, tweeting, “I’m really sorry my comments about Idris Elba have caused offense. That wasn't my intention.”
Horowitz went on to say that his mind was clouded by the part Elba plays in the gritty cop drama, Luther.
“I was asked in my interview if Idris Elba would make a good James Bond,” Horowitz explained. “In the article I expressed the opinion that to my mind Adrian Lester would be a better choice but I'm a writer not a casting director so what do I know?
“Clumsily, I chose the word 'street' as Elba's gritty portrayal of DCI John Luther was in my mind but I admit it was a poor choice of word. I am mortified to have caused offense.”
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Horowitz’s interview with the Mail was a potential minefield as it was—and he was sure to pick his words carefully when it came to discussing Ian Flemming’s classic books, past 007 movies, and Bond’s racist, homophobic, male chauvinist pig tendencies.
“Bond is not the most sympathetic of characters when you actually think about him,” Horowitz said. “He is a man who kills people. He has unfortunate attitudes towards women, gays, Jews and foreigners.
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“I have to be careful how I say that, because we do like Bond. That is one of the tricks of the books, to make him likeable. He represents the country, in patriotic terms. Also, he is the Byronic hero who comes riding out of the shadows, puts the world to rights and moves on to the next adventure.”
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Horowitz’s novel builds upon Bond’s rep as a shameless macho killing machine, but the author cuts back on the usual misogyny—to a degree—by bringing back Pussy Galore, to give 007 “a slight comeuppance.”
He also introduces a new female adversary, Jeopardy Lane, who is “sharper, stronger and better” than Bond, and is the one who gets to love and leave the secret agent, rather than be left, as has always been the case previously.
“The policy was not to fight any of it, not to try and change him and not to make excuses for him but to find a way to chide him,” Horowitz explained.
“So one of the women in the book abandons him, and worse still—spoiler alert—walks out with another woman.”
“Jeopardy is at least as effective a spy as James Bond and probably more so. Without her, he would be killed. He has to acknowledge that she is unstoppable and doesn’t make mistakes, while he does.”
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When it came to making any radical changes to the Bond character though, Horowitz had his hands tied to a degree—as he had to answer to the Fleming Estate, who recruited him in the first place to continue the work of his literary predecessor.
One thing the estate made crystal clear was there was no way they would allow Bond to fall for a man, or have any kind of gay love scene included in the new novel—however, Horowitz did managed to sneak in an openly gay friend, and some naked man-on-man wrestling for Bond to partake in.
All we can say is thank FUCK Roger Moore won’t be playing 007 this time round....
Alec Baldwin—Not too surprisingly, the outspoken Baldwin has had many rants in his time. But he outdid even his asshole self when he allegedly went off at a photographer, who was black, calling him a 'coon' and 'a drug dealer'.
Charlie Sheen—In a voicemail to his ex-wife Denise Richards, Sheen calls her a "fucking nigger alright".... yeah, we're gonna say #NotWinning with that one...
Donald Sterling—The LA Clippers owner was caught on tape telling his mistress V. Stiviano, who is part African-American, that he didn't want her associating with blacks, at least publicly that is.... OK then Donald....
Floyd Mayweather Jr.—Before his fight with Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather was on ustream talking all kinds of racist smack... including calling his adversary, a "little yellow chump" and vowing to force Pacquiao to make him a sushi roll and cook him some rice.
Justin Bieber—No, not the Biebs, say it isn't so! He's such good friends with Floyd Mayweather and everything... oh, right, wait...
Old JB landed himself a race scandal after footage surfaced of him telling "a joke" which comprised of him mimicking the sound of a chainsaw, by saying the words "run, nigger-nigger-nigger" .... Hilarious Justin (NOT!)
Mel Gibson—This man's said some things in the heat of the moment....and then some... Gibson has blamed Jews for the world's problems, and called a female police officer "sugar tits" all while she was arresting him....but he blamed it all on the al..al..alcohol....Maybe Gibson was also wasted when he ranted about niggers and wetbacks during a highly charged voicemail on his baby momma's phone...
Michael Richards—Ah yes, Kramer from Seinfeld. His now infamous racially charged meltdown at The Laugh Factory was anything but laugh worthy. Perhaps showing a desperate need to brush up on his comedic comeback skills, after a heckler started on him, Richards shot back with an insane racist rant, including gems such as, "Throw his ass out. He's a nigger. He's a nigger! He's a nigger! A nigger! Look, there's a nigger!"
Paris Hilton—When you're quoted as saying "I can't stand black guys. I would never touch one. It's gross" it's pretty much a given that you have a few issues to work through when it comes to race relations.. Now, granted Hilty was only 18 at the time... but, do leopards ever really change their spots?
Paula Deen—The southern cook found herself elbow deep in a race scandal after a former employee sued her for racial and sexual discrimination... During her deposition, Deen 'fessed up to using the "n" word, blaming it all on the 60s.... ah yes... the 60s... Well, we're not sure what her excuse was for tweeting a photo recently of her posing next to her son, who was in blackface...
Rihanna—When Chris Brown started hanging out with new girlfriend Karrueche Tran, Rihanna wasn't too pleased—and, she soon found herself under fire after referring to Tran as "rice cakes"
Shaquille O'Neal—We're not sure if its racism or just plain ignorance (arent the two usually one and the same thing?!!) but when talking about Chinese born basketball player Yao Ming, Shaq thought it was hilarious to tell a reporter “Tell Yao Ming, ‘ching-chong-yang-wah-ah-soh.”
Soulja Boy—The rapper manages to tick two boxes in one go.... homophobia and racism—referring to his haters as "white faggots" and when blaming his record label for a stalled career, branding them "crackers"
Tila Tequila—This classy lady has fired off a few racial epithets in her time over social media...mainly aimed at her African American baby daddy, oh, and Charlamagne the God, whom she traded racial epithets with during a very heated Twitter war... she's also gone off on Jewish people too though—branding Marcus Howe, a director she worked with, "a dirty fucking kike" and posting a bizarre photo of herself dressed in a Nazi SS uniform posing in front of Auschwitz—the piece de resitance though? That will be calling herself "Hitila"... nice....
Patrick Rushing—The disgraced Airway heights mayor showed his distinct lack of diplomacy, and brain cells, after posting a revolting Facebook diatribe against "monkey man" Barack Obama and his "gorilla face" wife.....
Rosie O’Donnell—The big O loves to bust out her "hilarious" Chinese impressions... on one occasion, she showed off how she thinks Chinese people sound when talking about Danny DeVito. “That you know, you can imagine in China it’s like: ‘Ching chong. Danny DeVito, ching chong, chong, chong, chong. Drunk. The View. Ching chong.'” Don't give up the day job Rosie...
Ted Danson—During a roast of Whoopi Goldberg, whom he was dating at the time, Danson thought it would be just hilarious to kick off things by using the 'N' word and eating watermelon... oh, all while in black-face....
