Is Martin Freeman racist? Controversy explained as TikTok video slamming the Sherlock actor goes viral

English actor Martin Freeman was branded a racist after an internet user highlighted his remarks in a viral video. A user named @htmljones took to their Tiktok handle to share a brief video in which they singled out English celebrities who they believed were racist. The user started the list by naming singers Lana Del Rey and Harry Styles before pointing out Martin Freeman.

The Tiktok user flashed screenshots of an anonymous conversation posted on a Tumblr blog which claims that the Sherlock star thinks racism is wrong but that "multiculturism divides rather than unites people."

The video, which garnered over 24k likes and over 500 comments, spread like wildfire over the internet, with several people raising eyebrows at the accusation that Martin Freeman is a racist.

One Twitter user wrote:

Another user wrote:

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What exactly did Martin Freeman say?

According to an anonymous blog post shared on Tumblr, Martin Freeman explained how multiculturalism divides people instead of uniting them in a 2008 interview with the Daily Mail. He said:

“Multiculturalism hasn’t and doesn’t help because rightly or wrongly it polarises people so much. Racism is one thing, and I don’t agree with that in any form, but noticing that there are differences is normal and fine and to be encouraged."

Martin continued:

"We’ve reached a state now where it’s, ‘You shouldn’t notice. Why are you noticing he’s got a bomb and has a beard and is Muslim and wants to kill your family?' There is no country in the world like this."

He then gives an example of Ghana and how its citizens would notice if their traffic wardens are Welsh and "might not love it."

"We give ourselves a hard time in this country in a sort of mea culpa way. But if we were that racist, people wouldn’t come. Very simple.”

Freeman also talked about hip-hop and how he really liked the music genre until "gangsta rap took over":

“I come from a time when not every rap record was ‘n***a’ this and ‘n***a’ that... an earlier socially and morally conscious hip-hop sensibility, when it was, ‘Don’t call people n***a’. But now it’s n***a, n***a, n***a, and it’s not funny or interesting politically, artistically, or socially. I really don’t like it.”

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Born on September 8, 1971, Martin Freeman is a native of Aldershot, United Kingdom. He began his acting career in 1997 by appearing in an episode of the television series The Bill as Craig Parnell.

Some of his other acting credits This Life, Picking up the Pieces, Lock, Stock..., The Low Down, Linda Green, Love Actually, The Office, Shaun of the Dead, The Robinsons, Breaking and Entering, The Good Night, The All Together, The Old Curiosity Shop, Wild Target, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Fargo, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, etc.

As of writing, Freeman has not responded to the allegations of racism online.