Black Americans had it hard, have it hard — use whatever tense you want, and you’re right. But we black Americans don’t have a monopoly on struggle, even racially-based social struggle.

Or do we?

Many believed that Samuel L. Jackson was making that claim as he spoke with Hot 97 earlier this week. 

Speaking about Get Out, the movie’s take on race in modern America and its star, Daniel Kaluuya, Jackson said, “I tend to wonder what would that movie have been with an American brother who really understands that in a way. Cause, Daniel grew up in a country where they’ve been interracial dating for a hundred years. You know, in Britain, there’s only like eight real white people left in Britain … some things are universal, but everything ain’t.” 

The backlash, as you can imagine, was swift. John Boyega, the British black actor best known for playing Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy, dismissively called Jackson’s comments a “stupid ass conflict we don’t have time for.”

Many black American actors on the other hand, rallied around a lamentation made by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Grey’s Anatomy actress Devere Rogers, who asked why “we as Americans can’t tell our own stories?”

Jackson had an answer for that question in his interview that didn’t sit well with many, claiming that black Brits win roles over black Americans because “they don’t cost as much.”

He followed that up by accusing black British actors of putting on airs. “They think they’re better trained for some reason than we are cause they’re classically trained.”

Get Out director Jordan Peele, perhaps anticipating Jackson’s comments, told The Guardian recently that he’d considered many American actors for the part of Chris. Of Kaluuya, however, Peele said, “At the end of the day, he was the best person for the role. He did the audition and it was a slam dunk.”

Perhaps having read Peele’s comments, or maybe because it dawned on him that this whole debacle wasn’t going particularly well for him, Jackson told the Associated Press, that he didn’t mean his remarks as a “slam,” but rather, “just a comment about how Hollywood works in an interesting sort of way sometimes.” 

He further said that while he still felt that black American actors aren’t beneficiaries of the sort of “luxury” that their British counterparts are, “that’s fine, we have plenty of opportunities to work.”

The struggle is real, Sam, but let’s struggle together, shall we?