British Poet and ‘Peaky Blinders’ Actor Dies at 65
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Benjamin Zephaniah, a British poet and Peaky Blinders actor who combated injustice and racial abuse, died on Thursday at the age of 65. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumor eight weeks ago, a post on his Instagram page stated. “Through an amazing career including a huge body of poems, literature, music, television and radio, Benjamin leaves us with a joyful and fantastic legacy,” the post read. Zephaniah wrote poetry books addressing political topics like the British legal system in The Dread Affair and Palestine in Rasta Time in Palestine. He was well-known for turning down an order of the British Empire award in 2003, citing Britain’s history of slavery. “I’ve been fighting against [the] empire all my life, fighting against slavery and colonialism all my life. I’ve been writing to connect with people, not impress governments and monarchy,” he explained on The Big Narstie Show in 2020. Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that he was “a devoted friend of the marginalised and dispossessed,” while Zephaniah’s Peaky Blinders co-star Cillian Murphy gave a statement to Variety, saying, “Benjamin was a truly gifted and beautiful human being–a generational poet, writer, musician and activist.”
