This Publication Listed Idris Elba And Damson Idris As Brothers And Is Getting Blasted Online
British tabloid Daily Mail is getting blasted online after mistaking Damson Idris and Idris Elba as brothers.
“Could Idris Elba’s younger brother Damson be the next James Bond?” the tabloid wrote in a recent headline.
Consequently, social media users followed up with an avalanche of backlash.
Mail on Sunday report mistakenly imagines that Damson Idris [surname: Idris, born in Peckham, parents from Nigeria] must be the brother of Idris Elba [surname Elba, born in Hackney, parents from Sierra Leone & Ghana] pic.twitter.com/7GHpqTEhMB
— Sunder Katwala (@sundersays) July 30, 2023
Critics of The Daily Mail said the erroneous headline is yet another example of sloppy journalism and racism from editors who fail to show respect for Black people.
Mail on Sunday report mistakenly imagines that Damson Idris [surname: Idris, born in Peckham, parents from Nigeria] must be the brother of Idris Elba [surname Elba, born in Hackney, parents from Sierra Leone & Ghana] pic.twitter.com/7GHpqTEhMB
— Sunder Katwala (@sundersays) July 30, 2023
The Daily Mail has now adjusted its headline after facing backlash.
“Will Damson Idris be the next James Bond?” the new headline reads.
Mail on Sunday report mistakenly imagines that Damson Idris [surname: Idris, born in Peckham, parents from Nigeria] must be the brother of Idris Elba [surname Elba, born in Hackney, parents from Sierra Leone & Ghana] pic.twitter.com/7GHpqTEhMB
— Sunder Katwala (@sundersays) July 30, 2023
Speaking on the Desus & Mero show in 2022, Idris talked about how people often mistake him as Elba’s brother. The Snowfall star said he first met Elba at a party in London honoring Spike Lee.
“It was all these people there and Idris Elba was like, ‘Hey, come over here.’ I walk over to him and he’s like, ‘I know you, I know you, they always ask if you’re my little brother. You’re doing good, you’re doing good,’” Idris said the British actor told him, Yahoo News reported.
Since that meeting, Idris said Elba has become a mentor for him.
“Now I can call him on the phone. And I can ask for advice, man. This guy, Idris Elba, is an absolute G,” he said. “I’m so indebted to him because when I was getting Snowfall, when I was in the thick of it — probably I met him around season 2, 3 — I would call him and ask about The Wire. I was like, ‘Yo, how were you when you walked into a room? Were you British when you walked into a room?’ He was like, ‘No, I was String[er].’”
