- A video of Benedict Cumberbatch standing up for a fan keeps circulating on social media.
- The actor can be heard telling the crowd to "back up" and not push each other in the viral clip.
A viral video of actor Benedict Cumberbatch telling a group of fans to "back up" to avoid pushing someone he was signing an autograph for keeps resurfacing on social media, as fans of the actor say they admire his "sweet" gesture.
The most viral version of the clip was posted on May 7 by a TikTok user called @justbee2.1 and currently has 6.4 million views. The user did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The video showed Cumberbatch signing autographs for a group of fans outside a building in what appears to be Times Square, in New York. As the actor was signing an autograph for someone at the front of the group, he repeatedly told the people behind her to "back up."
He later turned to the person who was out of shot and said, "Not you, hun, the people pushing you. I'm trying to do it for you," to which they can be heard responding, "Oh thank you, my love."
Later on in the clip, a man could be heard apologizing to Cumberbatch for pushing into the crowd, and Cumberbatch replied, "Don't apologize to me, apologize to the lady."
The TikTok received more than 3,400 comments, the majority of which were praising the actor for intervening. "He is so polite! my goodness!!" one comment read, while another said, "He is so humble and sweet."
It is unclear where the clip originated, but a month after @justbee2.1's TikTok of it went viral, the user's video was reposted on Twitter by several users and continued to draw attention from Cumberbatch fans.
"He's such a gentleman (as always) I can't," one Twitter caption resharing the clip in late June said, with commenters agreeing by describing the actor as "the best," and "a man full of integrity."
A Facebook reel showing the clip, which has 57,000 likes, was posted by a user called Benjamin Lopez on May 28, but it appears to have been gaining traction over the past few days among new viewers are commenting on the post weeks after it was first shared on the platform.
"Very nice of him to be concerned for a fan that's being smashed in the front," one comment posted on August 16 said, while another comment posted on the same day said, "I'm glad to be seeing celebrities standing up graciously for their space and boundaries."
Cumberbatch found fame while starring in the British television show "Sherlock," which aired from 2010 to 2017. He most recently starred in Marvel Studio's 2022 film "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," playing the title character in the latest installment of movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Representatives for Cumberbatch did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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