Benedict Cumberbatch

We have to double down our efforts.

And I can't speak today at this amazing moment in my life on this extraordinary platform without acknowledging the obvious of what's happening in the Ukraine and to show my support for the people of Ukraine, my support for the people of Russia who are opposing the kleptocracy and the idiocy of their rulers to try and halt the progression of this atrocity On behalf of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, we now declare today Benedict Cumberbatch Day in Hollywood.

It is now time to hear from our honoree. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Benedict Cumberbatch. Just another day at the office.

I'm gonna need my phone because I have a brain like a sieve, and this is possibly the most surreal thing that's ever happened to me, and that's, that's saying something. Wow. Okay. Well, quickly, please can I thank the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for this extraordinary honor? I'm British, so part of me is finding this incredibly painful.

The other part of me is quite enjoying this massive ego stroke. It's an amazing spot. Listen, I didn't grow up in Hollywood.

I didn't grow up in this culture. I was talking to Kevin about it, how the first time I got to visit here was because of really playing Khan for JJ.

So to have him speak and then to be bookended with what that guy's gonna do in May behind me really speaks volumes as to why Kevin and JJ couldn't be better placed to embarrass me and just say the most extraordinarily generous things about me and my work, as you just heard. Fame, huh? It's an odd one.

It's an odd one because it's often a search for approval or approbation or love, and I grew up in a house where none of those things were in short supply. Probably the most amount of privilege I had in my youth was that, the love from two extraordinary parents who can't be here today, but are somewhere on a phone watching.

Mom and Dad, Timothy Carlton, Wanda Ventham, to give their acting names, I love you so much. And there are many weird things that make this collection of cells on this third rock from a planet as a storyteller be celebrated today, but you're really chief amongst the cooks of those ingredients, so, this is your star. And I'm gonna bring you over at some point, and you can have your photograph next to it.

I wouldn't be here without some of the people that are supporting me. My team, who have been part of this extraordinary journey, which just, yeah, it blows my mind having it reviewed in the way that JJ and Kevin just so kindly did. John Grant, my agent, my dear friend, my collaborator, a man of great taste.

It's rare in this industry to be rung up by people who have talked to your agent to say how much they like talking to your agent. And I have to say the same also goes for Billy Lazarus and Tara Jones, whose hard work and consistent patience, yeah, they performed minor miracles, all of them, in scheduling my life into making some of what I do possible.

And Tracy Jacobs, who's been such an amazing figurehead over the last few years of UTA's support for me. I adore you Tracy. I adore all of you and I can't thank you enough for being here.

My friends Peter and Wendy, who are really loco parenti in absence of my mum and dad, who've hosted me in their home, who've been generous with their time, their love, and made such extraordinary connections with me and my family, every time we've been here. I'm thrilled you're here. And Cody, thank you for coming.

Thank you all for coming, and Roger and everybody who's here. Liz and Heidi, I love you. You're new to the team, but it feels like we've known each other forever.

And to some people who are absent who are in England, my wonderful publicist, Karen Maskul, I wish you could be here as well. This is as much yours as it is anyone's. And there's a lot that goes on under this earth.

There's a lot of it that belong to people and indigenous Americans before, and before that somebody or an animal or just whatever. The, to contain this space for a little bit of time is extraordinary. And I don't know, you know, this is just so hard.

There's so many people I want to mention. My niece Emily also couldn't be here today. And I want to mention my sister, who we lost, last year.

Trax was She would've loved this. She really would've done. She was unbelievably loyal, supportive, and she yeah, she would've loved the glitz and the oddness and the glamour.

She would've just been laughing nonstop all the way through and probably crying. And I hope somewhere up there, where the real stars shine, you're looking down on this moment now. I'm sure you are.

We miss you so much. You are and remain such a good and wonderful person to have had in our lives. I'd like to thank another few people who aren't here, but have made this possible in one degree or another.

Donald McInnis, my makeup artist, Cathy Highlands, Joe Wilf. There's somebody I should mention as well. I we also lost someone to COVID this year, a dear dear friend of mine, Patrick Monroe.

Peanut is the name that Tom Hardy and I knew him by, who was introduced to me by Tom and was my trainer, funnily enough, for JJ, to bulk up for playing Khan. I think I've probably gone over my two-minute limit, but I don't care.

This is important. He was a difficult He had a very difficult time with his health, and yet I thought he was probably one of the strongest, most gentle souls I've ever met. And the last I heard from him was a text on a ventilator in an ICU unit. This has been a really painful year for so many hundreds of thousands of millions of people around the world.

Not just those who've lost loved ones because of this, but also because of the separation and the anxiety and tensions that that has caused. And the other existential threat that we have faced as a species and continue to in the global climate crisis.

We have to double down our efforts, and I can't speak today at this amazing moment in my life on this extraordinary platform without acknowledging the obvious of what's happening in the Ukraine and to show my support for the people of Ukraine, my support for the people of Russia who are opposing the kleptocracy and the idiocy of their rulers to try and halt the progression of this atrocity.

But it's more now for all of us to do than just have thoughts and prayers. We need to act. We need to go onto embassy websites.

We need to see what we can do as citizens of the world, citizens of Europe, and people who want a better place and a better outcome for this horrendous moment for these people with children, with families who are struggling to survive as rockets rain down on their cities. We can't stand back anymore. We need to act, and there are things you can do.

You can support organizations. You can support those who help refugees on the ground. You can support human rights organizations.

You can pressure your politicians, your bank, your, industries to recognize anything that you can do to help, and it is possible. So I urge people to do that on this day. I'd like to thank a bunch of incredibly talented, men and women, dear friends of mine, Julia, Chris, Joe, Miranda, Kate, Jeffrey, just to mention a few of you.

You would love to be here to take the piss out of me right now, and I'm sorry that you're not. But you keep me grounded in each and every way that's humanly possible, as does the most important people in my life, other than my mother and my father, of course, my wife, my best friend, and my co-adventurer, Sophie.

I don't really know how to say what I need to say to you other than, repeat some of the things you've said to me over the last couple of days, like, "Remember, you're not a comedian." And yeah, maybe the rest shouldn't be made public, but yeah.

But seriously, your support, your honesty, searing at times as it is, your style, your grace, your beauty, your generosity, and your love are extraordinary, and I'm just, I'm really enjoying this, but it wouldn't be half the ride if I was on my own without you that it is with you.

Together, we've created an amazing family of three extraordinary little human beings, who I yeah, again, I would say a lot about, but you know what I feel about them, and this is public, so I won't. They're amazing. They're amazing, and they've taught me a lot of what I now do and know, and they've also undone a lot, a lot of what I do and know.

And look, should anyone wonder if I can't recover from this kind of celebration and ego pump, "Shut up, Daddy, you stupid fart face," you know, that, being hit in the face, fought over, and generally abused is a daily occurrence for me at home, so thank you for keeping me grounded, boys.

I love you so much, and one day, in disguises, maybe we'll sneak out here and have a little photograph all together on Daddy's star. But you're my little stars, and I adore you. Yeah, let be, to quote Hamlet.

Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day, and happy Benedict Cumberbatch Day to everyone involved. Oh, I should say thank you to the fans as well.

Sorry. A lot of this is to do with people who are strangers and have come out in hordes at various times to support me, to cheer for me. I thank you all for following me on this journey. Lots of love. Good night.

Goodbye. Au revoir.