Benedict Cumberbatch cuts off business ties with Mahathir Mohamed’s son Mokhzan over the leader’s anti-Semitic comments
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch’s company has severed business ties with Mokhzan Mahathir over anti-Semitic remarks made by his father, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, local media reported.
In an interview with the BBC last October, Mahathir called Jews “crooked-nosed” and blamed them for the issues within the Middle East.
“If you would like to be honest, the issue within the Middle East began with the creation of Israel. That’s an old truth. But I can not say that,” he told the BBC Tough conversation.
The 93-year-old politician, who became prime minister for a second time last May after his coalition won a shock election victory, also expressed scepticism concerning the variety of Jews killed within the Holocaust, saying the figure was 4 million, not six million.
Cumberbatch learned of those statements after Daily mail a reporter contacted him a couple of days ago to get a response, Mokhzani told a Malaysian website A star on the net.
Mokhzani, who invested £1 million ($1.3 million) in Cumberbatch’s media company SunnyMarch Holdings in 2014, said Doctor Strange AND Sherlock Holmes The star didn’t need to be associated in any way with this incident.
The actor said Daily mail was “shocked and disappointed” by Mahathir’s remarks, which he found “abhorrent and unacceptable.” He told the newspaper he was within the technique of severing business ties with Mokhzan.
Mokhzani said he met Cumberbatch when the star visited Malaysia in 2014 for the Laureas Awards. “We kept in touch after that and he invited me to invest in his film start-up,” he said.
Mahathir’s second son didn’t seem particularly apprehensive concerning the breakdown of the business relationship.
“Ben felt that being associated with me was the same as being indirectly associated with my father, so it was his prerogative,” he said.
