Update: Following his interview with The Guardian, David Harewood clarified his remarks: “I don’t support or condone Blackface. My own documentary on the subject can be found on the BBC website. It is a grotesque distortion of race and should always be condemned.”

Previous: Homeland star David Harewood has said he is worried about the creep of identity politics in acting and argued that white performers should be able to “black up.”

In an interview with The Guardian to mark his appointment as president of British drama school Rada, Harewood made the case for controversial casting decisions on the proviso that performers deliver.

“We’re at this strange point in the profession where people go: ‘Oh, you can’t play that role because you’re not disabled, or you can’t play that because you’re not really from there.’ The name of the game is acting,” he said.