I was 18. Two boys who were just discovered in bed together doing something, and it was shocking. I was just finishing an essay in the school dining hall at breakfast, and I looked out the window and heard a commotion, a pair of feet scampering by, and then a horde just charging after shouting, “Wankers! Faggots!” and I thought, “What the fuck is going on?” … [I later told them that] you have to learn acceptance at this school, and you have to go into the world as a better person, and you have to try and embrace the fact that people are different rather than defining yourself by not being like them. Who cares that they’re gay? You have to coexist.”— Benedict Cumberbatch, whose film The Imitation Game about gay hero Alan Turing opens this fall, discussing a homophobic incident from his says at a boarding school with The Daily Beast
Cam
And another homophobic incident was when his roommate told him he was a really sloppy kisser. 😉
Oli1023
@Cam: Wow. He was giving support, and you’re saying shit like that? Some straight men are afraid of voicing support because of things people like you say.
Cam
@Oli1023: Please point out exactly what I said that was so horrifyingly insulting.
My comment was lighthearted but please, by all means go into hysterics and live up to the humorless stereotype why don’t you?
vive
“Experienced” a homophobic incident, when you really mean he “heard about” a homophobic incident. Who hasn’t? My eyes are crying crocodile tears for him. Many of us didn’t come off so lightly. How about writing about something real?
man5996853
@vive: He wasn’t asking for sympathy, or your “crocodile tears” you jackass. He was merely recounting an incident of homophobia and his mature, helpful reaction to it. I don’t understand why some of you douches have to be so nasty.
MarionPaige
There is a line in the telemovie “Christopher and His Kind” in which gay British author Christopher Isherwood says: “I’m glad I’m the way I am. Thank God for public school.” Also,
Cumberbatch’s primary PR Objective is to NOT have people talking about the fact that there are a lot of “blacks” in Jamaica named Cumberbatch because one of his grandfathers was a major slave owner there (to the point where his relatives advised him to change his name because they feared being sued by decendants of former slaves).
In fact, I think there is an Black Actress with the name Cumberbatch because her relatives were “owned” by one of Cumberbatch’s grandfathers ( some degree of great grand father).
The degree of “gay-ness” in British schools is such an open joke that this “incident” of alleged homophobia comes across as a calculated diversion
corey
I don’t even know who this guy is, granted I down own a TV and rarely go to movies or read gossip websites and mags, but I have never even heard his name or seen it written anywhere. You would think I would see him in the check out line mags, which are talking bout Pitt- Jolie marriage and Jennifer Aniston’s (that her last name?) issue with never being a mother, and the usual too skinny actress photoshopped in stupid posses.
Maude
@Cam:
Cam, There you go again.
You’re bound and determined to aggravate at every turn, and in every nook and cranny that you can slip your insulting, and overworked tongue into, you leave a snail like residue of slim.
It’s a trait shared by only a few who are so disappointed in their own lives, they
feel an unrelenting need to disrupt, aggravate, and infect whatever it is that has caught their attention at the moment.
Cam
@Maude:
So please detail out exactly what was so upsetting in my comment. Or is this another excuse for you to attack yet another person on this site?
If you can’t explain where your fake outrage comes from I will take that to mean that you can’t.
Alan down in Florida
@corey: Is there a reason you chose to parade your ignorance of pop culture? Just 2 weeks ago Benedict Cumberbatch received an Emmy Award as Best Actor in a Mini-Series for his portrayal of the titular character of season 3 of Sherlock. In addition there is tremendous Oscar buzz around his performance as Alan Turing, the homosexual Brit who invented the machine that broke the Enigma Code the Nazis were using which changed the course of WWII.
MarionPaige
none of this “demands” that the average American should know Cumberbatch. I personally haven’t watched the emmys nor the oscars in years (how many people do?). I’ve never seen Sherlock. I think the only thing I’ve seen Cumberbatch in was a trailer for the wikileaks movie. I ran across an article about his family’s slave owning past online and that is probably the most interesting thing about him. I just found out he was in “12 Years A Slave” – a movie I haven’t seen and don’t intend to see.
I gather that gay men are suppose to live for celebrities and the oscars but, not all of us give a shit.
Desert Boy
The title is misleading.
A better (and more accurate) title might say, “A Teenage Benedict Cumberbatch Witnessed Ugly Homophobic Episode at School.”
In any case, I’m glad he didn’t join the taunting. Tells me he has character.
money718
For some reason, this sounds like a lie.
Chris
With age, memories fade and they bleed into the clear narratives that we want them to be. This particular memory is simply too convenient (and BC’s role too righteous) to convince me of much beyond that he now thinks he did/said something along the lines of what he reports he did/said.
stranded
@Cam: I don’t know what Maude or Oli1023 are going on about, I thought your post was funny
Bauhaus
@Cam: LOL! The all-male boarding school he attended likely had an enormous amount of gay activity on campus.
retropian
I’d rather read about a first hand account of a homosexual experience in boarding school rather than a second hand account of a homophobic one.
scotshot
@MarionPaige: You’re basically unaware of Cumberbatch yet you know he’s in the “Sherlock series”, “12 Years a Slave”, “We Steal Secrets….”, quote lines from “Christopher and His Kind”, and know his bloodlines pretty well and allege that his family urged him to change his name for fear being sued for reparations, when in fact he’s rather ashamed his ancestors were slave owners.
For someone who claims ignorance of Cumberbatch you knew more than I did before today and who appears to worship celebrity culture more than most of us, but when it comes down to it nobody gives a shit what an obnoxious Troll has to say.
vive
@man5996853, my reaction was to the misleading click-bait title of the article, as well as the way celebrities are selling their brand to gay people to make money off us.
lykeitiz
I really don’t see what all the fuss is about this guy that warrants all the press he gets. I’ve seen him in a couple movies, & he’s OK, but he doesn’t really “wow” me. As far as I can see, his biggest talent is hiring a brilliant press agent. And before I get attacked…..I’m allowed to have an opinion, and that’s what these comment sections are for.