Sunderland may not be like London, Cynthia Erivo, but neither is it like the Britain of old

Grammy-winning Cynthia Erivo, newly appointed Rada vice-president. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

‘A day out of Sunderland is a day wasted.” So claimed Charlie Slater, council leader in the 1970s, and a man known as “Mr Sunderland” to generations of Mackems.

Actor and singer Cynthia Erivo is unlikely to agree. On a social media clip taken from an appearance on the Amber Ruffin show on NBC in the US, Erivo compared different British cities she had visited. Manchester, she told her American audience, is “incredible because it feels like London”. Sunderland, though … “You go to Sunderland and you’re like, ‘Where the fuck am I?’” The viral clip gets cut here. In the full interview, Erivo continues: “I don’t know where I am. This is not where I live.”