Actor Benedict Cumberbatch is facing a compensation claim for his slave-owning ancestors.
His family once ran a plantation with 250 slaves in Barbados, which now wants reparations.
The Doctor Strange star’s seventh great-grandfather, Abraham, bought the land in 1728 and made a fortune from it over the next 100 years.
But David Denny, who is leading the fight for compensation, said: “Any descendants of white plantation owners who benefited from the slave trade should be asked to pay reparations, including the Cumberbatch family.
“The money should be used to turn the local clinic into a hospital, support local schools and improve infrastructure and housing.”
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Cumberbatch’s ancestors were said to have received compensation of $11,000, the equivalent of $6.4 million today, when slavery was abolished in the 1830s.
He previously admitted that his mother had encouraged him not to use his real name as an actor because of concerns about the family ties of slavery.
Cumberbatch played a plantation owner 12 years of slavery.
And the 46-year-old was said to have played the role of young William Pitt in Amazing Grace, a film about Britain ending the slave trade.
He has suggested that he took part to apologize for his family’s history.
This article was originally published by The Sun and reproduced with permission