Get Out's Daniel Kaluuya Responds To Samuel L Jackson Controversy Over British Actors In African-American Roles

‘Get Out’ actor Daniel Kaluuya has responded to Samuel L Jackson, following comments he made about black British actors playing African-American roles.

Daniel plays the lead in ‘Get Out’, a new satirical horror film which centres around an interracial relationship between two young people in America.

However, Samuel L Jackson revealed last week that he was unhappy with the casting decision, claiming the part would have been better suited to an African-American actor.

He said at the time: “I think it’s great [’Get Out’]’s doing everything it’s doing and people are loving it. But… I know the young brother who’s in the movie, and he’s British... I tend to wonder what that movie would have been with an American brother who really feels that.

“Daniel grew up in a country where they’ve been interracial dating for a hundred years… What would a brother from America have made of that role? I’m sure the director helped, but some things are universal, but [not everything].”

Daniel has now had his say on the matter, telling GQ: “I’m dark-skinned, bro. When I’m around black people I’m made to feel ‘other’ because I’m dark-skinned. I’ve had to wrestle with that, with people going, ‘You’re too black’.

“Then I come to America and they say, ‘You’re not black enough’. I go to Uganda, I can’t speak the language. In India, I’m black. In the black community, I’m dark-skinned. In America, I’m British.”

Addressing the UK’s long history of racism towards black people, right up to the present today, he continued: “The people who are the reason I’m even about to have a career, had to live in a time where they went looking for housing and signs would say, ‘No Irish. No dogs. No blacks’. That’s reality.

“Police would round up all these black people, get them in the back of a van, and wrap them in blankets so their bruises wouldn’t show when they beat them. That’s the history that London has gone through.

“The Brixton riots, the Tottenham riots, the 2011 riots, because black people were being killed by police. That’s what’s happening in London. But it’s not in the mainstream media. Those stories aren’t out there like that. So people get an idea of what they might think the experience is.”

“This is the frustrating thing. In order to prove that I can play this role, I have to open up about the trauma that I’ve experienced as a black person. I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I’m black.”

British actor John Boyega, who appeared in the most recent ‘Star Wars’ film using an American accent, previously panned the controversial discussion, branding it “a stupid-ass conflict we don’t have time for”.

‘Get Out’ debuts in UK cinemas on Friday, 17 March.