Rush Limbaugh Is Furious That a Black Actor Might Be the Next James Bond

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/rush-limbaugh-furious-black-actor-might-be-next-james-bond

f it feels like an unusually long time – days even – since Rush Limbaugh said something stupid, take heart: the right-wing host used a portion of his show yesterday to rail against black actor Idris Elba being cast as James Bond. According to Limbaugh, Elba couldn't possibly be a convincing Bond because the character "was white and Scottish, period.” With his statement, Limbaugh joins fellow conservative Megan Kelly in tacitly admitting that he does not understand how fictional characters work.

Limbaugh, who has been curiously silent about the recent dust-up over white actors being cast as Egyptians in the film Exodus, was reacting to a leaked email from Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal. In the letter, Pascal wrote to another studio head, “Idris should be the next bond.”

Even after recognizing that Bond is a creation of author Ian Fleming -- meaning that agent 007 is a pretend person who never actually lived -- Limbaugh complained about the casting of a black actor in the role of the superspy because “that’s not who James Bond is.” He goes on from there:

I know it’s racist to probably even point this out, but the franchise needs to get with it. The franchise needs to get hip. It needs to get with the 21 st century! That’s right -- we had 50 years of white Bonds because Bond was white! He was never black. Ian Fleming never created a black Brit to play James Bond. The character was always white. He was always Scottish.

Oddly, Limbaugh has previously been mum about the fact that not a single Bond has been Scottish since Sean Connery, whose last film in the franchise was more than three decades ago. Current Bond Daniel Craig, like Idris Elba, is English. Other Bonds have been Irish, Welsh and Australian.

[Turbineguy]

1. He does not understand how fictional characters work?

Ironic really, since most of what Limbaugh posits is fiction.

[TexasProgresive]

4. There is a vast difference betwixt fiction and taradiddle*

* I have never seen or used this word before it came up in my Thesaurus. I think taradidle sums up all of the claptrap that Limpballs has ever uttered.

taradiddle |ˈtarəˌdidl| (also tarradiddle)
noun informal chiefly Brit.
a petty lie.
• pretentious nonsense.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: perhaps related to diddle .

Fiction must have verisimilitude, a sense of realness. There is non of that in his diatribes- so I stand by the claim that Limpballs is not a creator of fiction but rather taradiddle.

[Turbineguy]

13. Every so often I wonder

what I'm doing here. And then this comes along.

Taradiddle. Indeed

[TexasProgresive]

18. Isn't that the most delicious word for him? n/t

[Calista241]

2. Does anyone care what this shitbag thinks?

[JHB]

3. Cheer up, Rush! They'll probably make Felix Lieter a white guy again!

[Mike Nelson]

5. I'd like Bond to remain his Britishness...

...his "race" doesn't matter that much, if I'm recalling the character correctly. There are some who do seem, to me, like they should be a certain "race". For example, I believe Rush Limbaugh should be portrayed by a white actor, if a serious film biography is ever made... For a comedy, any Rush "race" works!

[dawg]

14. Mr. Elba is an Englishman.

I don't see why his complexion should be any more relevant than his hair color or eye color. It isn't like he's being asked to portray Snow White.

[Mike Nelson]

23. He also looks the part...

Seems like a good casting decision.

[Taitertots]

6. To understand Rush,(He's wrong but we can understand why) imagine Kunta Kinte played by Michael Cera

Rush is just trying to work up his audience for attention/rating. The complexion/genetic heritage of a fictional character is idiotic and caring about it means you are an idiot. Rush is just playing to the lowest common denominator.

DON'T FEED THE TROLL!

[Stellar]

8. True, everybody knows what Rush does for a living but...

you weren't implying that the OP was trolling were you?

and btw: Whites have been portraying people of color for a long, long time.

[Taitertots]

9. No, I'm implying that the OP feeds the troll

EDIT *Just to be clear, Rush is the troll*

[TexasProgresive]

19. I'll double down on that

How about a bio pic of Rush played by Whopie Goldberg. Now that would be fun and give him something to wail about.

[Taitertots]

21. With Whoopi going through a collection of his worst/most racist quotes

Scenes where Whoopi goes home to each of his wives and explains to them why he said horrific things.

The trailer is Whoopi in the signature Rush on the radio shot saying:
“From this day forward, somebody propose it, liberals should not be allowed to buy guns. It’s just that simple. Liberals should have their speech controlled and not be allowed to buy guns. I mean if we want to get serious about this, if we want to face this head on, we’re gonna have to openly admit, liberals should not be allowed to buy guns, nor should they be allowed to use computer keyboards or typewriters, word processors or e-mails, and they should have their speech controlled. If we did those three or four things, I can’t tell you what a sane, calm, civil, fun-loving society we would have. Take guns out of the possession, out of the hands of liberals, take their typewriters and their keyboards away from ‘em, don’t let ‘em anywhere near a gun, and control their speech. You would wipe out 90% of the crime, 85 to 95% of the hate, and a hundred percent of the lies from society.”

[dembotoz]

7. DO not think ian fleming would recognize the 007 in any of the movies

007 is not like harry potter where fans screamed about any variation from the book.

hollywood just basically took a book title then made the rest up.

[kelliekat44]

10. Wait until they get a black comedian to play the role of Rush Limbaugh....

the thought of it ...

[gladium et scutum]

25. Or maybe

Brad Pitt to play John Shaft.

[SidDithers]

11. Patton Oswalt and Wendell Pierce had a great back and forth on Twitter about this...

@pattonoswalt: I am 1000% for Idris Elba playing James Bond, but I'm 3000% for @WendellPierce doing it.

@WendellPierce: @pattonoswalt " Bond, James Motherfucking Bond. Happy Now, Bitch". I'm ready Mr. Oswalt

@pattonoswalt: .@WendellPierce "Martini -- shaken, not stirred. Or a Natty Bo. Or anything, really. I don't give a fuck."

@pattonoswalt: .@WendellPierce James Bond will return in -- QUANTUM OF FUCK.



Sid

[panader0]

12. Didn't Rush get his panties in a wad when Will Smith played James West (Wild Wild West)?

[randys1]

27. I think Rush wears panties, often...ew, yuck, what did I just envision

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. Nobody tell Rush that Idris Elba isn't a

Savvy Baltimore drug dealer, either.

"But Stringer Bell was a black American from Baltimore! How dare they get a Brit to play him!"

Jeez, imagine what he must have thought about Gary Oldman playing Lee Harvey Oswald.

[True Blue Door]

16. A lot of people just don't understand what acting is.

Or storytelling for that matter. Unless a particular script inherently requires a certain appearance - e.g., a historical film, or a script about Neo-Nazism, or what have you - the only thing that really matters is, will an audience ultimately buy this actor as this character?

Idris Elba's presence (cool, smooth intelligence and controlled power) bears a lot more of a resemblance to James Bond than some of the actors who've already portrayed him, so I call that an "obviously."

It's always puzzled me why Hollywood won't consider non-white actors for leading roles where race is totally irrelevant to the script, and hopefully that starts to change. Audiences are ready, I think. At least in this country, although I could buy that they have some trepidation about foreign box office results.

[Behind the Aegis]

17. Really want to see people, left included, shit bricks? Make him gay! n/t

[name not needed]

20. Fuck it, just for Rush, let's get another white guy. I nominate Karl Pilkington.

[NYC Liberal]

22. Bet he doesn't care when Jesus is portrayed as a white, European man.

[ladyVet]

24. As far as I'm concerned, Idris Elba can play any damned role he wants.

I might even watch a Bond movie with him in it. swoon

[Cleita]

26. Every other word that comes out of Limbaugh's mouth is a racist dog whistle

like calling President Obama the White House steward or valet, covertly meaning the "house you know what", that he plays golf when he should be working implying he's a "lazy you know what." Why can't he be accused of violating the civil rights act or some anti-discrimination law in place? Surely this is beyond the intention of the founding fathers of what free speech is supposed to be from a public figure.

[tularetom]

28. Or he pretends to be furious to keep the hicks pissed off

Limbaugh is nothing but a failed radio DJ who discovered he could make a ton of money saying things that kept stupid low life white people angry at those who were different from them in any way (color, wealth, nationality, religion, education).

The fact that he still has an audience at all after 25 years of spouting his bullshit is testimony to how stupid his listeners actually are.

[jschurchin]

29. Do you really care? I mean really?

I quit giving a flying fuck what that fat, drug addict, piece of shit thought years ago when i realized he had the the intelligence of my dog. In my world, he just doesn't matter. He's irrelevant.

[left is right]

30. I don’t want Jim to be James Bond either

after the first season of Luther, I decided that i didn't like the character or Elba’s voice. But I would watch any other black British actor in the role

[greendog]

31. The next Bond flick should be filmed twice.

One should star Barack Obama. The other should star Sean Hannity. That'd settle this little controversy.