Benedict Cumberbatch Condemns Anti-Gay Prejudice, Says He'd Fight Extremists "to the Death"

Actor opens up about the state of homosexuality in Hollywood during an interview wit Out magazine

By Bruna Nessif Oct 14, 2014 9:28 PMTags
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As if we needed another reason to swoon over Benedict Cumberbatch...

While discussing his upcoming film The Imitation Game—where the British actor plays gay mathematician Alan Turing, who broke the Enigma code used by the Nazis during World War II, and was later prosecuted for being a homosexual—Cumberbatch opened up to Out magazine about the continuous struggle for homosexuals in Hollywood and his astonishment with anti-gay religious radicals, claiming he'd fight these extremists "to the death."

"People are being beheaded in countries right now because of their beliefs or sexual orientations," the celeb, who snagged the cover of the November issue, said. "It's terrifying. It's medieval—a beheading! I'd take up arms against someone who was telling me I had to believe in what they believed or they would kill me. I would fight them. I would fight them to the death. And, I believe, the older you get, you have to have an idea of what's right or wrong. You can't have unilateral tolerance. You have to have a point where you go, ‘Well, religious fundamentalism is wrong.'"

And while the 38-year-old admits there have been great leaps when it comes to the acceptance of homosexuality in Hollywood, he also can't deny that there is still a fear for leading men who choose to come out of the closet.

"I think if you're going to sell yourself as a leading man in Hollywood to say ‘I'm gay,' sadly, is still a huge obstacle. We all know actors who are [gay] who don't want to talk about it or bring it up, or who deny it. I don't really know what they do to deal with it."

The actor continued, "Human rights movements and sexual and gay rights movements have made huge social progress in the last 40 years, without a doubt, but there's a lot more work to be done. I think it's extraordinary that every time we get to a point where there's any kind of trouble in society, people are scapegoated very, very, very quickly."

The Imitation Game hits theaters on Nov. 21.