Eddie Marsan has shut down an agitated fan who called him a “woke lefty” after he defended Good Morning Britain presenter Adil Ray against racist bullying.
Earlier this month, Ray opened up about the racism he had been subjected to on social media following disparaging comments made about British-Pakistani men by Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
“To see the racist bullying @adilray has been subject to over the last few days, has been heartbreaking, but the way he’s dealt with it, with skill, humour and far superior intelligence has been inspiring,” Marsan tweeted on Sunday (16 April).
The next day, a user responded to The Power star’s post, angrily writing: “I wish you were like the characters you portrayed. Not the woke lefty who tweets what he thinks people want to hear [middle finger emoji].”
Shortly after, Marsan replied: “Have you seen the characters I play?”
The 54-year-old British actor currently features in Amazon Prime Video’s new original series The Power as London crime boss Bernie Monke.
Across his lengthy and varied acting career, Marsan’s best known for his portrayal of real-life fraudster John Darwin in The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, despondent former boxer Terry Donavan in Ray Donavan, and the villainous Red in Hancock.
On 2 April, Braverman singled out British-Pakistani men while discussing the government crackdown on child sexual abuse.
Braverman claimed that a “predominance of certain ethnic groups – and I say British Pakistani males – hold cultural values totally at odds with British values”.
Later that week on GMB, while discussing the government’s refugee policy, Ray shared his fear that the country was becoming more divided.
“We had another divide this week… with [Braverman’s] comments about the community that I belong to, the British-Pakistani community,” the presenter said.
“Simply labelling British Pakistani men [as having] an issue when it comes to English white girls,” he continued, “I have suffered nothing but racism for the last seven days.”
