Idris Elba: Speech on diversity in the media and films 

Amazing speech from Idris Elba!

"I’m not here to talk about black people; I’m here to talk about diversity.Diversity in the modern world is more than just skin colour. - it’s gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, social background, and - most important of all, as far as I’m concerned - diversity of thought."

This is also about the class differences that exist in the UK. Many of the British actors we know of came from elite schools and neighborhoods unlike Idris who came from a working class background.

Why is it that whenever there is a call for racial and diversity equality that some Caucasions instantly feel threatened by this?

He links diversity to economics and industry. Brilliantly done. Much better way to come at this than to ask for change out of the kindness of people's hearts.

Preach brother Idris! Absolutely hit the nail on its head, it's not about "boo-hoo black people didn't get nominated for the Oscars this year" I couldn't care less about awards shows for subjective pieces of entertainment. We just want equal opportunities for equal talent. It's an absolute legitimate wish and valid in every field there is, be it entertainment or not.

Brilliant speech by Uncle Driss, "True diversity" within all aspects of the media from behind the scenes to on the screen is needed. There has been some positive strides but speaking from the perspective of somebody in the industry there still is a vast amount of change needed for individuals from BAME backgrounds to be "appropriately" represented.

he challenges writers to increase imagination for increased diversity. Challenge accepted.

These comments are disheartening if not just straight out disgusting. People going from hearing what they want to hear to dismissing what his point is right out saying he only wants roles for blacks, when he said at the very beginning he is talking about diversity. Which isn't code for "Skin color", but instead its about various roles people around the world that you would see in everyday life if you step outside of your door. Working I meet injured people of various backgrounds, and mental capacity, and so on. That's a diverse meeting of life, people, and character.

guys, watch his speech before making judgment. this is amazing, and he speaks on a much larger scope than race.

Idris speaks of a Britain that would make me proud. If I was to sum up my personal experience of British television/news media at present day it would be: an overall numbing of the senses. I believe in the core concept of diversity (and especially of thought) as the way forward for society. Listening to Idris project the same belief, straight forward and through his nerves, also while acknowledging the array of stories that make up our present day country and community (ie taking the time to include that Churchill's sexism existed and mattered alongside his virtues, and so did the racist atrocities of our British empire alongside it's accomplishments) was a much needed breath of fresh air. I for one am glad he found his way to such a platform in the first place, and am wondering about the other voices out there in our country.

This speech is just as awesome now as it was when he gave this speech. This subject needs to be addressed and things need to change. It will enrich our industry, both on-screen and off-screen talent, and will draw in more fans and audience. Talent is talent.

Wow, these comments are pretty unpleasant.

Oh yeah forget the box, I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee this speech. Straight to the point. Being a Caribbean Actress/Filmmaker and more (Antigua/Barbuda to be specific where I live and come from), diversity is needed among the writers, directors not just in the Caribbean only but in these big continents like America and Europe. They and we over look soo many great talents and don't realize it that will make any movie/tv series etc wonderful!!! Good speech Idris!!!

I don't see Idris as a black actor... He's a hilarious, intellectual british actor whose a talent to this world... Thank you, Idris Elba❤️

What a handsome man and that posh sounding accent makes him even more attractive.

The irony is as Britain has become more diverse, TV has become less diverse. In the 1990s there were plenty of shows with minority lead casts but something happened in the millennium where these shows disappeared. Two things happened. Independent companies took over British TV. These companies usually run by white Oxbridge upper middle class people were getting commissioned by their pals from Uni in the TV channels and non-white people and working class white people disappeared from TV for almost 15 years. This lead to British TV becoming very white and upper middle class in content. Secondly the decentralisation of the BBC from London. London is the most diverse city in the world and when TV was based there TV channels felt a duty to reflect this diversity in their shows. n But when different BBC and ITV became more regional UK TV forgot about their duty to represent minorities and just represented white people from different regions. People forget there are more non-white people in Britain than, Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh people, but you wouldn't know it because for the British media having Scot, Welsh, Irish or Northern English person represented is seen as more important than a non-white person. So shows that would have had been about non-white people are now about white people from different regions in the UK. The problem is the lack of diversity in British has cultural problems. Not having diversity on UK TV means you don't normalise minorities to the majority population.When you have TV and everyone is white it creates an imagine in British white people's heads that this is what the UK is really like and non-white people are not part of the British life and weird. The UK is really diverse in the real world and pretty much every major city multicultural and London the biggest city has a 40% non-white population. Also not having non-white faces on British TV alienates British minorities. This means culturally they do not feel part of British culture and society if they are not represented as part of it in the media. You find most British black people watch US TV because they feel more represented there than British TV that is very white and middle class. What makes this lack or representation bad is that TV channels get 18% of their income from minorities yet we don't see that reflected in content. BME's don't get a discount on the TV license because their is a lack of content that appeals to them. They are essentially using minorities and working class white people to subsidise upper middle class shows like Josh and Miranda.

Awesome speech Idris Elba 💜😇

My story is almost ready for him. Been writing for him over a year now. This is such a timely speech. And I can't believe there were actually 46 people who gave this a thumbs down. Dim bulbs, the lot. This speech was magnificent. Bravo.

Idris maps out the course. Follow his advice and the gatekeepers may finally get it right.

January the 18th, how late am i?? Great speech Idris, so grateful you took the time to write, say it and mean it. Fingers crossed for ALL of us in diversity, like he said, not just skin colour, but gender, disability, sexuality and more, even though its the Creative Industries, its a business and hopefully the people with the wallets can as he said take chances like Netflixx and cast out of the usual. and hire out of the usual. Fingers crossed. PS, Naomi Harris was SOOOO good, was sick in Long Walk to Freedom. Acted out of her *ahem, socks. I teared up. Ha.

Brilliant and important speech. Love this man

This comment section is woeful, funny how people bring out their true selves behind fake icons online

I love Idris Elba.. Not only is he incredibly sexy, but also intelligent and well spoken. Seriously no other actor has put this into perspective as well. Jada Pinkett Smith and co, for instance just annoyed the living shit out of me when they talked about it.. This guy just makes more sense.

Sexy man, and I'm a man, and straight Great speech!

Enjooyed hearing him speak and liked the content of what he was discussing!

As someone who fucking loves film and good TV I love diversity. When I go outside it is diverse. For this art to feel as real as it needs to be it needs a cast that reflects reality. Idris is bang on about diversity of thought, some of the shows that go for diversity try too hard to be safe in their depiction and you get something weird and artificial. Boxes, exactly. That's what it all really boils down to.

Such a Classy guy! My mom and wife often say that I look similar to you! and after watching this im convinced! lol Thanks for giving my more looks when I go to the malls here in the US lol

Essential viewing in my opinion. A speech that will be studied and taken to heart for an entire generation.

UNBELIEVABLY TRUE THAT'S WHY A LOT OF BLACK BRITISH ACTORS GO TO AMERICA FOR MORE ROLES. DAVID OLEYOWO AND IDRIS ARE PRIME EXAMPLES

God some of these comments... Did you even listen to the speech? He said right at the beginning that the roles themselves DO NOT exist. People cannot "earn" roles they aren't even allowed to audition for. "Black male" is not a role written for a diversity of actors. It's a stereotype written for one type of actor. We have decades of evidence to show that casting directors have consistently ONLY even screened white actors for main roles. Even for characters which were originally written to be PoC. And you want to talk numbers? Women make up over HALF the planet but still get treated like a "niche market" across all industries from clothing to videogames. Television and film representation is grossly biased to support white, male, cis, straight characters. And surprise surprise, they are NOT the majority. If Film and Television reflected population numbers, there would be a hell of a lot more queer stories and Muslim characters and Chinese films. Most importantly: IT'S FICTION. We can have dragons and talking dogs and magic and time travel but god forbid you imagine a black detective in Victorian London.

Impeccable Speech! Im thinking of becoming an actor as well!

Just finished watching The Wire. What a fucking actor! And yes, I already knew beforehand he was from London.

wow i cant believe he really make his self sound American he is a great actor

Is there a transcript of this somewhere?

"We don't steal gold anymore, we win it" -

Wise words!!

I love you, Idris! There's no role you can't play!

Well done. Thank you, Idris! Thank you.

I love love this speech IDRIS!!!

what an amazing voice

This speech is also totally relevant to the UK music industry.

I had hoped quotas would die with the Soviet Union.

Shout out to Joe Cornish who made Attack the Block. Stick at it Joe, they'll remember your name one of these days.

I admire him so much.

"Reality TV hasn't quite caught up with reality". That is some insane shit right there. Very wise man.

beautiful speech and accent

Fuck you Idris Elba, for making me love you so much.Brilliant, beautiful man.

The flat screen TV on the right is very distracting. Very bad setup.

This feel like a Ted talk. Very enjoyful speech.

Such a beautiful and intelligent man. Loved his discourse and hope that more will hear/see this. Some people need to think in nuances..... :)

So handsome this is what a real man looks like

His voice :OOOOOO

2:30 "I'm here to talk about diversity. Diversity in the modern world is more than just a skin color. It's a gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, social background, and most importantly in my opinion it's diversity of thought." Too many comments here from people who don't seem to have heard what he's saying. Why listen if you're not, you know, actually going to listen?

spike lee and jada pinkette smith need to learn from this....

Why is Idris saying 'ARKS' instead of ASK ? I've seen him in plenty of stuff - he does not talk like that. 7:55 - he says 'arks' then at 8:04 he says 'asking'.

so this is why he played chief bogo

Great speech.

Great speech and handsome.

Speaking of diversity: He has been cast as Roland Deschain from the Dark Tower series. It's been getting a lot of mixed responses but I don't care personally about them making the white lead character a black man; I just want the movie to be good

fuck it, forget the box - idris i wonder those who wrote the unpleasant words know where he made that comment. The beginning of the speech does not reveal how insightful and progressive his recommendations are.

talking about empire, power and business to a room full of MPs. knows his audience!

I want more Idris Elba on MOVIES

Soooooo charming and charismatic!!!

I like the way he talks...He is reading from a script

What he said about the talent in the olympic team was true aswel. there should be more effort in looking for the best talent

Breaking the rules and normal thinking helps to change applications.

OMG This guy is so hot

This is why it's important for black british actors to stay home and put up a fight

but he wants to eat mowgli how can that be diverse?

As for Idris Elba he's not a black man he is Idris Elba that is who he is. In the end we are all one race regardless of color, It is time to wake up and stop this bs otherwise we are doomed

The Wire wouldn’t be made today. Did anyone watching the Wire at the time think anything other than Idris Alba was brilliant as Stringer Bell.

Added: an odd case of reverse stereotyping is Neil Patrick Harris. He is often cast as straight. I can't say why. Am too stupid. Do people revel in the role reverse? Just watched A Million Ways to Die in the West. Not just How I Met Your Mother or Harold and Kumar. Hmmmm.....

Idris Elba good actor hope he gets the bond role

BRING DIVERSITY TO ISRAEL BRING INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY TO UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Bravo ! Wow, more than an amazing Actor ! " Fuck it, forget the box. " (Y)

Explain to me again why he's not the next Bond???

Bless

you 32 yts need to take a seat and listen.

Holy shit Stringer just busted out the English accent

Legend !

The Oscars need to stop trying to be so politically correct and just notice pure talent, regardless of whether the person is black, white, ethnic bk-ground, weight or sexual orientation. Its like a few yrs ago when they gave that film 12yrs a slave Oscars for the stars, that now just makes me think they only did it just to plz black people, then the next yr they give Oscars to gay people for some movies, then the next its focus is on Transgender Issues.

seems like black people are going backwards rather than forwards. all the progress made seems to be slowly eroded. how badly we miss legends like rosa parks, malcolm x, mendela who took on racism square on. black people should be more concerned about actual lack of black direcors,playwriters and scriptwriters. until that changes i cant see us tackling racism. think of all the movies and tv shows especially american blacks and ethnic minorities are always given menial roles who just play the 'yes man' and are more of the white mans accessory. if you do get a black playing major role he/she dies very soon.

'Reality TV which I hate' love him

someone send this video to google who apparently thinks different opinion isn't categorized as diversity.

James Bond material always speaks like this... always..

Where's Wallace at?

FAVOR TRADUCIR AL ESPAÑOL

Some of the comments in here are beyond asinine, try listening to what he says and not what you want to hear.

Brilliant man

why aren't african nations diverse? hate

24:10 The whole point of Love Thy Neighbor was that everyone was laughing AT the racist.

If you force anything on anyone.. ANYTHING, it won't work, If black people or any people want change you have to work at it....and it will happen...This " there must be more diversity thing " is akin to begging ..

I loved Attack the Block movie.

bruh he deadass sounds like chris hemsworth, like legit chris hemsworth.

how did I miss him not being American

No surprises for the man who appropriated "whitest of the white" Heimdall.

Where's the boy string?

Well that just about covered boxes

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