

US commentator Rush Limbaugh has said Idris Elba should not be able to play James Bond because he is black.

Responding to rumours that the London-born actor is being lined up to one day replace Daniel Craig as 007, Limbaugh told his syndicated US radio show that Bond was intended to be a white man by creator Ian Fleming. “James Bond is a total concept put together by Ian Fleming. He was white and Scottish. Period. That is who James Bond is, was,” Limbaugh said. “But now [they are] suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton, rather than a white from Scotland. But that’s not who James Bond is and I know it’s racist to probably point this out.”

Limbaugh went on to compare the casting to the idea of George Clooney and Kate Hudson starring as Barack and Michelle Obama in a presidential biopic. He also said Hollywood might as well cast Kelsey Grammer as Nelson Mandela the next time a film was made about the South African freedom fighter.

Limbaugh’s argument about Bond being white and Scottish appears easy to torpedo. Roger Moore was English, Pierce Brosnan Irish and George Lazenby Australian. Meanwhile, Timothy Dalton was born in Wales to an English father and American mother. In any case, Fleming only began adding hints of a Scottish ancestry to 007’s backstory after the extraordinary success of Sean Connery’s first movie as Bond, Dr No, in 1962.