The Marvel actor is indicted after the family made a fortune in slavery

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch, 46, interpreter of the character Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is accused of the fact that his ancestors made a fortune in slaves on a plantation in Barbados.

Cumberbatch and his family are targeted by the National Reparations Task Force in Barbados and part of the cartoon Reparations Commission, which demands compensation for slavery practiced by the British during the colonial period, which marked the power of slave labor across the American continent. .

“All descendants of white plantation owners who profited from the slave trade must pay reparations, including the Cumberbatch family,” said Secretary General of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration David Denny.

Abraham Cumberbatch, the seventh great-grandfather of the Marvel actor, acquired a sugar plantation in St. Andrew in 1728, and used the services of about 250 slaves until his death. Abolition of slavery in Barbados in 1834.

At the time, the Cumberbatch family was compensated approximately R$22 million, in current values, for the loss of “human property”.

Barbados was considered a British crown colony until 2021, when it became a republic. So far, the United Kingdom has not demonstrated the need to compensate the American state.

“apology”. Benedict Cumberbatch spoke about his family’s slavery past.

When he played William Pitt in Journey to Freedom (2006), about the period of slavery in Great Britain, Benedict said he saw the character as “a kind of apology” to his ancestors.

The actor also reported that he was instructed by his mother, Wanda Ventham, not to use the surname Cumberbatch in an artistic setting specifically so as not to be held accountable for this historical fact.

Benedict Cumberbatch is best known for playing Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, as well as giving life to Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series ‘Sherlock’.

Cumberbatch has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: in 2015 for playing Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game,” and in 2022 for Netflix’s “Attacks of the Dogs.” He also won an award Amy by “Sherlock”.