James McAvoy Called Out A Reviewer Over A “Derogatory” Comment About Scottish People

The Scottish actor fought back against Peter Gynt review.

Smg / James Mcavoy

James Mcavoy— best known for his roles in Split, X-Men Dark Phoenix and IT Chapter Two (out September 6th), to name a few— recently shared a response to a review published in the Sunday Times by Quentin Letts.

The piece in question was a review of play Peter Gynt, in which Letts praised British actor Oliver Ford Davies as being “relief at last from the whining Scottish accents”. Mcavoy, however, wasn’t too happy about the comment— calling it “derogatory” in an Instagram video shared this Thursday.

The Scottish actor asked his followers to share the message with Letts, who (at the time) did not have an Instagram account through which Mcavoy could communicate.

“The person with an English accent gets referred to by his name, as an individual, with fruity superlatives,” Mcavoy said in the video, referring to Letts’ praise of Davies, “whereas the people who are ‘whining’ just get referred to as Scottish. Not as individuals, not as actors, just as an entire nation.”

The 40-year-old even asks to meet with Letts for a post-show discussion of his upcoming play, which he mentions in the video to be opening sometime later this year, about the review.

“You’re clearly an educated man, and I think an intelligent man, and I would love to have a chat with you,” Mcavoy politely suggests, wrapping up the video by jokingly offering to have the “fruity purrs” of Oliver Ford Davies mediate the conversation. Since the posting, it appears that Quentin has made an Instagram, although it’s not yet been confirmed as to whether or not he is actually the owner of the account. The profile is public, under the username @itsquentinletts (which matches Quentin’s Twitter account handle), though it has no posts or profile picture. The account currently has 54 followers, though it’s only following one— Mcavoy himself (@jamesmcavoyrealdeal).

Only time will tell if Letts plans to respond to Mcavoy’s video, and if that post-show discussion ever comes to pass— if it does, I’d certainly love to hear it.

Instagram @itsquentinletts / Via Instagram

The account allegedly belonging to Letts.