We still don’t really know for sure that Benedict Cumberbatch will be receiving a CBE (Commander of the British Empire, one rung lower than a knighthood in the British honors system) this month. The original source for the story was The Sun, which makes up gossip at a regular clip. But the way the British press has reacted to the rumor is… interesting. They’re running it like it’s going to happen. And hell, it might. So bring on the Cumberbacklash!

He has never won a major acting award and is yet to reach his 40th birthday, but it emerged yesterday that Benedict Cumberbatch is to be recognised with a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. After reports that the Sherlock star, 38, is to receive the accolade, which is just one rung below a knighthood, critics claimed the decision to do so turned the honours system into an ‘alternative Oscars’. Cumberbatch is decades younger than other stars when they received the same accolade, leading some to speculate the announcement is more to do with his celebrity than his achievements. Sir Anthony Hopkins and Kevin Spacey were both in their 50s before receiving their CBEs, while Sir Michael Caine and Sir John Hurt were both in their 60s.

MP Nigel Evans, a member of the Public Administration Select Committee when it published a report criticising the rise of celebrity honours, said the trend is undermining the whole system. He said: ‘It does seem to be that as long as your 15 minutes of fame stretches into 16 minutes you get a gong. We shouldn’t treat the honours system like the Tony Awards or an Oscar. This is something which should be seen as for lifetime achievements, not an award because someone’s last movie was good. That’s what the Oscars are there for and the Tonys and the Grammys, I do think we run the risk of the honours system being turned into an alternative Oscars or Grammys when it was never intended for that.’

He added that this trend means the people who deserve honours, ‘the people who have worked selflessly for charities for decades, the lollypop lady who has done her work for 40 years or the dinner lady who has been there for her lifetime’, are missing out.

On Cumberbatch’s young age, Mr Evans continued: ‘We do run the risk of dolling things out to people too early, perhaps in anticipation of some greatness they might achieve later on. He might have had a good burst in film or on the TV, it seems like he’s been a big name only for a couple of years, whereas someone has put themselves out for 30 or 40 years, just because people don’t know their name, they don’t recognised’.

Showbusiness agent Tony Fitzpatrick believes the award is a ‘political’ decision to cash in on celebrity status. He said: ‘In the old days of showbiz, you had to be in the business for decades before you got honoured, now it’s to do with the size of your audience. It’s about making money. Benedict Cumberbatch is flavour of the month so it’s a political coup for whoever awards him the honour. It’s not fair, I have people like Anne Diamond who led the cot-death campaign and has saved 150,000 babies lives but because it was a political issue at the time, she will never be recognised for that. There are lots of people out there who are doing lots of good things but because they don’t make OK magazine they are not honoured. It’s a bit like Blair’s Britain, they are saying “Let’s be cool and associate ourselves with fandom”. The honours system has changed, it’s less about rewarding long term good work and more about getting the headline. It’s certainly been devalued in the way a lot of traditions like that are.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I wonder if critics would be wringing their hands if Bendy was just receiving an MBE or an OBE. Probably not, because those lower-rung honors are usually given to people in the middle of their careers, right? And you know what I was thinking of – how does Bendy get a CBE for LOSING the Oscar while Eddie Redmayne gets nothing for WINNING the Oscar, the BAFTA, etc? It’s weird. Colin Firth got a CBE… in 2011, after he WON the Oscar for The King’s Speech. And he was 50 years old at the time.

Meanwhile, it was just announced yesterday that Chiwetel Ejiofor will be joining Bendy and probably Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange. Chiwetel will be playing Baron Mordo, possibly the villain? You can read more about it here.

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