Barbados suing Benedict Cumberbatch and family over slave trade past

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Jan 18:15
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If they lose the lawsuit, Cumberbatch's family will have to pay reparations to the government of Barbados.

Hollywood celebrity Benedict Cumberbatch

Barbados is soon about to file a lawsuit against Benedict Cumberbatch and his family over their ancestors' involvement in the 18th-century practice of the trade of slaves, The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday.

If they lose the lawsuit, Cumberbatch's family will have to pay reparations to the government of Barbados.

Barbados has recently established a national task force charged with requesting reparations from powers and institutions that made considerable profits out of slavery.

The actor's family was identified as one of those who engaged in such a trade and were reported to have owned about 250 slaves until the abolition of slavery a century later.

David Denny, the task force’s general secretary, said, "Every descendant of white plantation owners who profited from the slave trade should be asked to pay reparations, including the Cumberbatch family."

He further said the task force was in the preliminary stages of a lawsuit, adding that the British royal family is also facing a possible lawsuit.

Benedict Cumberbatch once said in an interview that he deeply regretted his family's involvement in the slave trade and explained that this was one of the reasons that motivated the actor to take on the role of William Pitt in the film “Ghosts of Freedom," which was concerned with the abolition of the slave trade.