In a rare interview, Morgan FREEMAN expressed distaste for both the “Black History Month” premise and the term “African American”.

Talk to The temperature in London on the eve of his new film A good personFreeman said:

“Black History Month is an insult. Are you going to relegate my story to a month?

And he added:

“Also ‘African American’ is an insult. I do not subscribe to this title. Black people have had different titles since the beginning of the word and I don’t know how these things have such a hold, but everyone uses “African American”. What does this really mean? Most black people in this part of the world are bastards. And you say Africa as if it were a country when it is a continent, like Europe.

Freeman said The temperature that he was inspired growing up to see Sidney Poitier onscreen, a few years later to speak to the veteran actor in person. Freeman revealed: “I spoke with Sidney a long time ago. He said, ‘I wanted to be like you.’

For Freeman, the man he would have liked to be is his friend Denzel Washington. “I’m so envious of Denzel’s career because he’s doing what I wanted to do.”

He added: “Generationally, though, I think we’re moving forward in leaps and bounds…LGBTQ, Asians, blacks, whites, interracial marriages, interracial relationships. All represented. You see them all on screen now and that’s a huge leap.

A few years have passed since the glory days of Freeman’s career, including The Shawshank Redemption, unforgiven, Glory, Invictus, Driving Miss Daisy, Seven And Million dollar baby which won him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2004.

In contrast, the actor, now 85, has downplayed his career success in recent years, reflecting:

I’ve done a lot of things over the past ten years that were very different. Driving Miss Daisy And Glory were different. NOW? It’s just . . . Me. The character will adapt to you rather than the other way around, so I do what interests me. Sometimes it’s just the money alone.