A day after Idris Elba announced that he had tested positive for coronavirus, the actor returned to Twitter on Tuesday to update his followers and fans on his condition, explain how he was able to get tested, and shed some more light on how he likely contracted COVID-19.
Most notably, Elba and offer a sharp critique of one specific reaction to his disclosure that, he said, is “scaring” him.
“There are so many stupid, ridiculous conspiracy theories about black people not being able to get it,” Elba said, referring to coronavirus. “That is the quickest way to get more black people killed.”
“Please understand that you can get it, all right?” Elba continued. “Stop sending out these stupid WhatsApp messages about black people not getting it. That’s ridiculous. You’re making us all look stupid. Just know you have to be as vigilant as every other race. This disease does not discriminate.”.
Elba said that he felt he needed to speak out against the “weird myth” because he is “a black person who has contracted the virus.”
“Stop sending that s–t out — it’s dumb, silly, and it’s going to get more people sick,” he said. “People need to know facts, need to understand the truth, so they can protect themselves.”
Elsewhere in his video messages, Elba said that while he remains asymptomatic, he is concerned about his diagnosis give that he’s had lifelong asthma, “so catching corona was definitely not on my bucket list at all.”
He also gave a strong indication as to how he likely became infected with the virus.
“On Friday last week, I was told that someone that I had been in contact with had tested positive,” he said. “I’m on location, about to start a film, and the news breaks that this person who’s also in the public eye had tested positive.” Elba never named the person in question, but he did say that while he cannot know for certain how he contracted the virus, he did interact with that person “who’s also in the public eye” on March 4.
On March 13, news broke that Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, the wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, tested positive for COVID-19. There’s has been speculation that Trudeau contracted the virus at the WE Day 2020 event in London on March 4, which Elba also attended.
Representatives for Elba did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Once Elba learned he had potentially been exposed, Elba said that the doctor and medical team for the film he was about to begin shooting were contacted, and that is how he secured a test for himself and his wife Sabrina Dhowre, who is now awaiting her results. Elba was reportedly in Santa Fe, N.M., last week to shoot the Netflix film “The Harder They Fall.”