Daniel Kaluuya responds to Samuel L. Jackson's British actors comment

Daniel Kaluuya Responds To Samuel L. Jackson’s Comments About British Actors

Daniel Kaluuya is not here for Samuel L. Jackson bulls#!t.

Ol’ Sammy Jack had a whole lot to say about the British actor who was cast to play the lead in Jordan Peele’s popular money-makin’ social horror flick Get Out in a recent interview on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning:

“I know the young brotha that’s in the movie, he’s British. So, there are a lot of Black British actors who work in this country. So, I tend to wonder, what would that movie have been with an American brotha who really understands that in a way. Because Daniel grew up in a country where they have been interracial dating for 100 years…”

He goes on:

“What would a brotha from America have made of that role? I’m sure the director helped, some things are universal, but everything ain’t. That’s the thing about ‘Selma’ and some others, there’s some brothas in America who could have been in that movie that would have had a different idea about how that works.”

When asked what is it about British actors versus American actors Jackson replied:

“They’re cheaper than us for one thing. They don’t cost as much (laughs). And they think they’re better trained than we are for some reason, because they’re classically trained. I don’t know what the love affair is with all that.”

Can’t lie, we love Sam, but this sounds pretty ignorant.

Daniel Kaluuya thinks so as well based on what he told GQ recently:

Big up Samuel L. Jackson, because here’s a guy who has broken down doors. He has done a lot so that we can do what we can do.

Here’s the thing about that critique, though. I’m dark-skinned, bro. When I’m around black people I’m made to feel “other” because I’m dark-skinned. I’ve had to wrestle with that, with people going “You’re too black.” Then I come to America and they say, “You’re not black enough.” I go to Uganda, I can’t speak the language. In India, I’m black. In the black community, I’m dark-skinned. In America, I’m British. Bro!

[Black people in the UK], the people who are the reason I’m even about to have a career, had to live in a time where they went looking for housing and signs would say, “NO IRISH. NO DOGS. NO BLACKS.” That’s reality. Police would round up all these black people, get them in the back of a van, and wrap them in blankets so their bruises wouldn’t show when they beat them. That’s the history that London has gone through.

Kaluuya added:

This is the frustrating thing, bro—in order to prove that I can play this role, I have to open up about the trauma that I’ve experienced as a black person. I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I’m black. No matter that every single room I go to I’m usually the darkest person there. You know what I’m saying? I kind of resent that mentality. I’m just an individual. You probably feel that as a writer, too. Just because you’re black, you taken and used to represent something. It mirrors what happens in the film.

I resent that I have to prove that I’m black. I don’t know what that is. I’m still processing it.

Sam tried to walk his comments back a bit, but you can’t really put that kinda toothpaste back in the tube.

What do you think of Sam’s comments and Daniel’s response?

Flip it to see what other British actors have to say to Samuel L.

Image via WENN