Thandie Newton, 47, who was awarded OBE for services to film and charity says word ’empire’ should be removed from honours because it is ‘outdated’

• Award-winning star, 47, received an OBE in 2018 for services to film and charity
• Mother was born in Zimbabwe, formerly British colony of Southern Rhodesia 
• Newton said the honour was a proud moment but agreed it should be removed

British actress Thandie Newton has said the word ’empire’ should be removed from honours, describing the practice as ‘outdated’.

The award-winning star of acclaimed sci-fi drama Westworld, 47, received an OBE in 2018 for services to film and charity.

Her mother was born in Zimbabwe, formerly the British colony of Southern Rhodesia.

British actress Thandie Newton has said the word ’empire’ should be removed from honours, describing the practice as ‘outdated’

The Order of the British Empire recognises contributions to the UK across the military, charity, public service and arts and sciences.

Newton said the honour was a proud moment but she agreed with Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy that ’empire’ should be removed.

She said, ‘yes I agree’ adding ‘it’s outdated’.

Hollywood star Newton, known for roles in films including Crash, The Pursuit Of Happyness and Solo: A Star Wars Story, said her mother was her first thought when the OBE offer arrived.

The Bafta and Emmy award-winner said: ‘It’s the best thing in her life, to have come from Zimbabwe, worked her ass off, and her pride in being British.

‘Her pride in being accepted when she’d grown up in a colonial environment. 

‘So it was really honouring the incredible hard work of my family, who are British, and also the representation of British people as being this modern spectrum of rainbow ethnicities.’

The award-winning star of acclaimed sci-fi drama Westworld received an OBE in 2018 for services to film and charity

Ms Nandy demanded last month that ‘Empire’ is removed from OBE honours because it ‘alienates’ people.

The Labour leadership hopeful insisted doing away with the reference to Britain’s colonial past would help make the country ‘different’.

She pointed to the example of poet Benjamin Zephaniah – who turned down an OBE in 2003 because it ‘reminded him of thousands of years of brutality’.  

 Newton said the honour was a proud moment but she agreed with Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy that ’empire’ should be removed

Ms Nandy demanded last month that ‘Empire’ is removed from OBE honours because it ‘alienates’ people 

The Labour leadership hopeful insisted doing away with the reference to Britain’s colonial past would help make the country ‘different’. Pictured: She was speaking at a Labour leadership hustings event 

Speaking at a Labour leadership hustings in Bristol, Ms Nandy set out why she did not believe the term should be used.

‘The self-confident, empowered country I will lead will be one that is different,’ she said.

‘Where people like Benjamin Zephaniah can accept the Order of Excellence not reject the Order of the British Empire.

Ms Nandy pointed to the example of poet Benjamin Zephaniah (pictured in 2003) – who turned down an OBE because it ‘reminded him of thousands of years of brutality’

‘That celebrates those who built us not seeks to alienate them.

‘To remake this country as it should and can be, Written, as he says, in ”verses of fire”.’

After he was put forward for an OBE in the 2003 New Year’s Honours, Zephaniah wrote an article explaining why he had rejected it.

‘It reminds me of slavery, it reminds me of the thousands of years of brutality, it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised,’ he wrote in the Guardian.

‘Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr (Tony) Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire.’ 

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