Rush Limbaugh: James Bond can't be black like Idris Elba!

This has to be an epic trolling right?

Rush Limbaugh: James Bond can't be black like Idris Elba!


Rush Limbaugh does not like the idea of a black James Bond. On Tuesday, the radio host ranted about the possibility of Idris Elba portraying 007 in the future, as suggested in some of the stolen emails leaked following the Sony hack. Listen to what Limbaugh said here.

After mentioning the Sony emails and telling his listeners who Elba is, Limbaugh said, “Here’s the thing, though… James Bond is a fictional character, obviously. James Bond was invented, created by Ian Fleming… and James Bond is… white and Scottish. Period. That is who James Bond is.”

“But now Sony is suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton rather than a white from Scotland,” continued Limbaugh. “But that’s NOT who James Bond is, and I know it’s racist to probably even point this out… We had 50 years of white Bonds because Bond is white. Bond was never black. Ian Fleming never created a black Brit to play James Bond. The character was always white. He was always Scottish.”

Limbaugh then mocked the idea of George Clooney playing President Obama, or Kelsey Grammer playing Nelson Mandela, or Scarlett Johansson playing Condoleezza Rice. He admitted that all of those people are from real life, unlike the fictional James Bond character, and that he’s aware of other instances where a traditionally white character was portrayed by a black star (like in the new "Annie").

He sarcastically concluded, “Sometimes a story is just a story, but we can always make it better. We can always be more fair. We can always be more equal about it. So, fine and dandy. George Clooney and Kate Hudson as Barack and Michelle Obama, and you can have Idris Elba as James Bond.

Maybe we could have Samuel Jackson portray Abe Lincoln.

Limbaugh can be such a tool.

L.T. Fan said:

Maybe we could have Samuel Jackson portray Abe Lincoln.

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What?

I see Rush reached his desired audience with this obvious trolling.

Zac Efron for Black Panther.

Jiggyfly said:

What?

I see Rush reached his desired audience with this obvious trolling.

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You post these provocative articles with the clear intent of getting a response. I am just accommodating you. If I read a ridiculous article I will give a ridiculous response.

L.T. Fan said:

You post these provocative articles with the clear intent of getting a response. I am just accommodating you. If I read a ridiculous article I will give a ridiculous response.

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The reason I posted it was because of Rush being an attention whore, it was a laugh at Rush type thing, sorry if you did not get the joke.

I don't know why this is so "provocative" to you.

Carp said:

Zac Efron for Black Panther.

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Well those Ethiopians are kind of light skinned.

I think Elba would be cool. Although he'll quit soon. He was all butt hurt about being a comic book character a minute ago.

pdom said:

Ben Kingsley was Ghandi.

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Kingsly was a British guy of Indian descent. That seems appropriate to play a Indian national who was also an English barrister.

My favorite totally wrong race for the role is of course John Wayne as Genghis Khan. Which is to say John Wayne in a Fu Manchu not even trying to act like anyone but John Wayne.

As far as recasting white characters with black actors go. I'm sort of disappointed the new fantastic four is going to have a black Johnny Storm.

Not because I think his character needs to be white, but it would be way more progressive to cast the scientist with a white wife as black, than the hot headed jock who sleeps around.

townsend said:

My favorite totally wrong race for the role is of course John Wayne as Genghis Khan. Which is to say John Wayne in a Fu Manchu not even trying to act like anyone but John Wayne.

As far as recasting white characters with black actors go. I'm sort of disappointed the new fantastic four is going to have a black Johnny Storm.

Not because I think his character needs to be white, but it would be way more progressive to cast the scientist with a white wife as black, than the hot headed jock who sleeps around.

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I did not like that switch as well totally unnecessary and loses the family dynamic.

He should have waited for the Black Panther role.

townsend said:

My favorite totally wrong race for the role is of course John Wayne as Genghis Khan. Which is to say John Wayne in a Fu Manchu not even trying to act like anyone but John Wayne.

As far as recasting white characters with black actors go. I'm sort of disappointed the new fantastic four is going to have a black Johnny Storm.

Not because I think his character needs to be white, but it would be way more progressive to cast the scientist with a white wife as black, than the hot headed jock who sleeps around.

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Yeah, but Reed's an abusive asshole, so would that be progressive or just ripped from the headlines?

Clay_Allison said:

Yeah, but Reed's an abusive asshole, so would that be progressive or just ripped from the headlines?

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Yeah you don't bring that up. Just like you don't bring up Superman beating up racist caricatures, or Falcon being a pimp.

or this

Jiggyfly said:

The reason I posted it was because of Rush being an attention whore, it was a laugh at Rush type thing, sorry if you did not get the joke.

I don't know why this is so "provocative" to you.

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And my initial response was a joke also but you came back with a barb that I was trolling.

I realize that Sony and others think they are being more inclusive or bantying about the equality thing, but I do have a problem with just all of a sudden making a familiar character black just to do what? Make people think your doing something to promote equality? Really, anyone can see it for what it is. How about you leave a character alone that has been a major movie character for years. If your goal is to somehow show you aren't racist or whatever the intent is here, how about creating a black character that is as desirable to see as this one is. That doesn't mean I'm against a black person being an iconic character. The one I think Marvel got right is the way Sam Wilson becomes Captain America. It fits in the story line they created. I'm not sure about the new Thor being a woman thing as I haven't read it, but I think that's nonsense too. Thor isn't a spirit that inhabits bodies, he is Odin's "son". So all this changing of characters from white to black or man to woman just to satisfy a small portion of the world that likely doesn't pay attention anyway is pissing me off.
Jiggy, do you watch the Bond movies and enjoy them? If so, while watching them did you ever say Bond should be a black guy based on the character's history? Or would you have thought, "It would be cool if they made a movie with a black character as neat as Bond?"

And oh yes, I forgot about Rhodey becoming Iron Man too. That worked as well.

Something important to understand I think, is that all iconic characters have been white. Not 88%, I think it's cool for new talented actors to get opportunities to play a character regardless of race. Honestly that's the only reason why I think it's a problem when you cast white characters in roles of dark skinned characters. (For instance Katness Everdeen was described as having olive skin). Great black and hispanic actors shouldn't have to only play gang member #4. Meanwhile Ryan f***ing Reynolds has been like 11 different comic book characters.

I agree with you in terms of making more roles available to people of color or race, but not in terms of taking a character like James Bond whose life has been written and viewed for 50 plus years. Again, that's just doing it for doing it sake. Like I said, Marvel did it right in a few of their series where they replaced the white guy hero with a black guy and it fit in the story, they didn't take a guy that had been white the entire time we knew them and all of a sudden turned them black. Again I think they may have screwed up the new Thor though. . But don't just change a character that has been a white guy in all 23 and soon to be 24 movies to a black guy because you can. That's silly.

Well, there has only been one Scottish actor who has played James Bond, so there is that.