Ray Winstone has said he is “anti-hotel” and believes some asylum seekers who are being housed in Epping “shouldn’t be here”.
The London-born actor now lives in Epping Forest, Essex, which has become the centre of anti-immigration rhetoric over The Bell Hotel, which is housing asylum seekers. Over the summer, it was subject to a wave of demonstrations from the far right after a man staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl. He was found guilty earlier this month.
During an interview with ITV News relating to him being immortalised in sculpture, Winstone was asked his opinion on the situation not far from his doorstep.
“Something was going to give, weren’t it?” Winstone said. Asked which side he fell on, ‘pro-hotel’ or ‘anti-hotel’, he answered: “I think it’s got to be anti-hotel. The thing that worries me is that there are genuine people who come here who need help but there’s also people who don’t. If you haven’t got the right paperwork to prove who you are you shouldn’t be here.
“At the moment, through the government we have, and governments we’ve had before, there’s a lot of unrest.”
He was then asked about nationalists hanging England flags around towns and spray painting St George’s cross on roundabouts.
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“Yes, we should be flying our flags with pride. Why should it be taken over by the far right? Are we far right for putting the cross of St George up? It’s our flag. It doesn’t belong to no-one else, it belongs to us.”
A ruling by the High Court in late August would ave forced the 138 asylum seekers to vacate the hotel by mid-September, but the temporary injunction was later overturned after the government won an appeal.
A full High Court hearing to decide on a permanent injunction for the Bell is expected in mid-October.
Winstone also made the headlines last month when he claimed that Marvel stops “cultural films” from being made.
The actor, who played villain Dreykov in the Scarlett Johansson-led 2021 action-thriller Black Widow, said he felt the industry has “become a business” at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Winstone said via Variety: “It’s all about selling tickets. We see what’s happening in Hollywood with Marvel and all that kind of stuff… There is room for it, and it’s fun, but it takes away from getting cultural films made, which are best for the actors, [and] are really good acting parts.
“It’s getting more and more difficult to do that. If you’re not on social media now, they might not even consider you for a movie because they want a fanbase to come with that.”
He added: “You have to go on Instagram, and I don’t want to go on fucking Instagram. I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but if it brings people to the cinema and creates new jobs, then I’ll do it. But I’d like to see more cultural films being made, that’s where good cinema is. From my point of view, anyway.”
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