Dumb.

Via HuffPo:

Earlier today, James Bond author Anthony Horowitz posted a public apology via Twitter following comments he made in a recent interview about actor Idris Elba. Talking to The Daily Mail on Aug. 29, Horowitz declared that Elba is “too street” to play Bond on the big screen. There was an almost instant outrage.

Horowitz’s comments were dismissed by livid Internet users and writers as racist, his use of “too street” a thinly veiled way of saying that Elba is simply too black to play the role. But Horowitz’s comments actually went far beyond race, demonstrating the way that sometimes stereotypes about black actors have everything to do with their blackness and how it relates to their perceived class.

When he said Elba was “too street” to be Bond, Horowitz wasn’t necessarily talking about race. After all, the author did offer his own dream casting for a black Bond: actor Adrian Lester, best known in the UK for his role as a suave conman on the television drama “Hustle.” Lester is a talented and capable actor but, more importantly in contrast to Elba, he’s posh, with a lilting, middle-class British accent.