Benedict Cumberbatch admits he has to ‘apologize quite a lot’ for playing non-binary role

Benedict Cumberbatch has played some beloved iconic roles, such as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Strange, however… one of his roles didn’t go down quite as well with his fans.

According to the Hobbit actor, his role as a non-binary character simply called “All” in Ben Stiller’s 2016 comedy Zoolander 2 left him literally apologising for it.

In fact, he may never take a similar role ever again.

While talking about the subject in question in Variety’s “Know Their Lives” video series, Cumberbatch opened up about his regret in starring in the Stiller-led sequel.

“I’ve had to apologize for that quite a lot,” he revealed.

“It’s a difficult one to talk about.”

Although his experience playing the character was soon met with outrage amongst the non-binary community, the Sherlock star didn’t hold back when sharing how he initially felt when signing up to play the “All” character.

“I love that group of people,” he expressed.

“It was the chance to sort of be part of something that the first time around was iconic and I was a huge fan of,” he explained to Variety. 

“But it got complicated,” he continued.

“It got misunderstood, and I upset people.”

“I respect that, so I probably wouldn’t do that again now.”

Backlash surrounding Cumberbatch’s fictional non-binary character began before the movie even hit the big screen, with the sequel’s promotional marketing being enough to set people off.

In addition to the backlash but not entirely related to it, the sequel was soon met with negative reviews as well as performing extremely poorly at the worldwide box office.

A petition online created for people to boycott the movie wrote, “Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals.”

“This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority.”

“If the producers wanted to provide social commentary on the presence of trans/androgyne individuals in the fashion industry, they could have approached models like Andreja Pejic to be in the film.”

“By hiring a cis actor to play a non-binary individual in a clearly negative way, the film endorses harmful and dangerous perceptions of the queer community at large.”

While talking to fellow Zoolander 2 star Penelope Cruz about the backlash, Cumberbatch admitted that “there was a lot of contention around the role, understandably now.”

“In this era, my role would never be performed by anybody other than a trans actor.”

“I remember at the time not thinking of it necessarily in that regard,” he added.

“It being more about two dinosaurs, two heteronormative clichés not understanding this new diverse world. But it backfired a little bit.”