Idris Elba is widely considered to be the favourite to play James Bond once Daniel Craig hangs up his tuxedo - and Sony emails reveal that Amy Pascal is sweet on the idea - but not everyone thinks old Stringer Bell should be sipping martinis for a living. During his news programme this week, controversial commentator Rush Limbaugh offered his two cents on the matter. Ok lets cut to the chase: Limbaugh says Elba is black, so therefore cannot play Bond.

LutherIdris Elba is probably best known for playing DCI John Luther

"James Bond is a total concept put together by Ian Fleming. He was white and Scottish. Period. That is who James Bond is," Limbaugh said.

"But now [they are] suggesting that the next James Bond should be Idris Elba, a black Briton, rather than a white from Scotland. But that's not who James Bond is."

"I know it's racist to probably point this out," he accepted.

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Elba has gone on record as saying he would be interested in becoming the franchise's new star and during a Reddit AMA he told one user: "Yes, if it was offered to me, absolutely" when quizzed on the possibility of it happening.

During an interview with NPR, Elba - who returns as Luther for a two-part miniseries in 2015 - basically smashed Limbaugh's argument to bits anyway: "I just don't want to be called the first black James Bond. Do you understand what I'm saying? Sean Connery wasn't the Scottish James Bond and Daniel Craig wasn't the blue-eyed James Bond. So if I played him, I don't want to be called the black James Bond."

Given the speculation in recent days, the bookmakers now have Elba as the heavy favourite to become the next Bond, with previous frontrunner Tom Hardy now available at odds of 4/1.

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