Here are some photos of Daniel Radcliffe out and about in London on Wednesday. He’s promoting his new film, Imperium, which is why he ended by being interviewed by the BBC. Most of the conversation was not about his film though – he was asked about race and Hollywood, and his answers are pretty interesting. Radcliffe has been talking about race a lot recently, saying that he’s disturbed by his friends in England, some of whom are the sort of pro-Brexit folks who hate immigrants, etc. While chatting with the BBC this week, Radcliffe mostly talked about race in Hollywood though:

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has said it is “pretty undeniable” that Hollywood is racist. He told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme the film world was seen as “very, very progressive”, but was “lagging behind” industries in encouraging diversity. Radcliffe also said it was hard for gay actors to come out for fear of being typecast in gay roles.

The 27-year-old British actor has starred as JK Rowling’s child wizard in several films since 2001. But his latest screen role, in the thriller Imperium, is as Nate Foster, an FBI agent who goes undercover to infiltrate a white supremacist group.

Radcliffe told Victoria Derbyshire this had led him to think more about racial issues, and to consider how close to “mainstream” some of the opinions in the film had become. He criticised the Republican US presidential candidate, Donald Trump, saying he had “stirred up” feelings of “fear and hatred”.

Asked whether Hollywood was “racist”, Radcliffe, who is on the panel that chooses Oscar winners, said: “It’s pretty undeniable. We like to think of ourselves as being a very, very progressive industry, but we have been lagging behind in all kinds of areas. ”

Radcliffe also voiced concern that gay actors felt unable to come out because “I suppose then people just want to cast you as gay”.

In 2012, the actor declared himself a supporter of the Labour Party, having previously backed the Liberal Democrats, and has since voiced support for leader Jeremy Corbyn. Asked about recent allegations of anti-Semitism within Labour, Radcliffe – whose mother is Jewish – described them as “absolutely awful” and “shocking”. But he said he was still likely to back Labour at the next election “if it was a choice between that and the Conservatives”.

[From BBC]

I get why this is a big headline in the UK, but to me it’s just sort of a shrug? There’s a context to what he’s saying, and he’s not wrong. Donald Trump has made white supremacy more mainstream. Hollywood is lagging behind the curve in racial acceptance and diverse casting and storytelling. Would I say that all of Hollywood is undeniably racist? No. But I don’t think that’s what DanRad is saying either.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.