Idris Elba explains his stance on calling himself a “black actor”.

Idris Elba followed up with a tweet explaining why he chose not to label himself a “black actor.”

“There is not a soul on this earth that can question whether or not I consider myself a BLACK MAN,” he said suicide squad Actor tweeted. “Being an actor is a profession, just like being an architect, they are not defined by race. However, if YOU define your job by your race, that is your prerogative. Oh lie?”

Elba recently left people stunned after an interview with EsquireUK where he said: “I stopped labeling myself as a black actor when I realized it was categorizing me. We have to grow. We must. Our skin is just that: it’s just skin. Go on a killing spree.”

In the same interview that Luther: The Fallen Sun Star said he didn’t become an actor “because I didn’t see black people doing it,” but “because I thought it was a great job and I could be good at it.”

He continued, “As you climb the ladder, you’ll be asked what it’s like to be the first black person to do this or that. Well, it’s the same as it would be if I were white. It’s the first time I. I don’t want to be the first black guy. I am the first Idris.”

Aware that he may be the first person like him to achieve something, Elba adds: “It’s good to leave as part of my legacy. So that other people, black kids but also white kids who grew up in the circumstances I grew up in, can see there was a boy from Canning Town who did what I do. It can be done.”