Idris Elba On Why He Ignores Social Media Hate: If I Tackled Everyone That Criticized Me, I’d Be Miserable

Idris Elba

Idris Elba On Why He Ignores Social Media Hate: If I Tackled Everyone That Criticized Me, I’d Be Miserable

Idris Elba is opening up about the criticism he’s received and explained why he tries not to pay attention to it. He and his wife, Sabrina Dhowre, appeared on Lizz Bonnin’s What Planet Are We On podcast, where he spoke on hate he gets online.

“I tend to be a lot more sensitive to it so therefore I don’t read it. I try to stay away from it.”

Idris Elba, who took a break from Instagram recently, continued:

“The reason I’m sensitive to it is because I don’t feel different to anyone. I just happen to be in an industry that sheds a lot more light on me… And then my value system, my personal life gets brought up into that and I’m just an entertainer. And if I tackled everyone that criticized me, I just would have a miserable life.”

He added:

“Ultimately as long as I feel that I’m just leading with my best foot forward, I’m not here to preach, I’m not here to tell you what I think needs to be done…I think there is power with volume sometimes and we bring that. And if we can have one tweet that sends the right message and if 500 people get it and 10 of those people hate me for it but 450 go ‘I kind of dig that’ or ‘you taught me something’ or ‘I looked into that a bit more further.’ Job done.”

Idris Elba found himself at the center of criticism after he debuted a controversial shirt to celebrate Juneteenth. 

He later deleted the post and wrote:

“When your own people weren’t with it.”

He then defended his background after a fan pointed out that he’s from the U.K.

He wrote:

“My grandpa was born in Kansas City and fought for America. Peace and love.”

What are your thoughts on what Idris Elba had to say? Comment and let us know.