Hollywood actor Benedict Cumberbatch has cut business ties with the son of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad.

According to The Star, Mokhzani Mahathir, the second son of Mahathir, has also confirmed that Cumberbatch made the decision because of anti-Semitic remarks that had previously been made by Mahathir.

"His prerogative"

“Ben has decided that being associated with me is the same as being associated with my father indirectly, so that’s his prerogative,” Mokhzani told The Star.

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A Daily Mail column reported that Mokhzani was a director at SunnyMarch Holdings -- a company that makes movies and television shows -- set up by Cumberbatch in 2014.

The column also claimed that Mokhzani had invested almost £1 million (S$1,780,296.61) in SunnyMarch Holdings via his own company, Kencana Capital.

Mahathir's anti-Semitic comments

According to Mokhzani, Cumberbatch had been contacted by a Daily Mail columnist asking for his comments on remarks that Mahathir had made in an October 2018 interview with BBC Hardtalk.

In the interview, Mahathir had doubled-down on a description of Jews as “hooked-nose”.

He had previously used the description in his book The Malay Dilemma.

He also blamed the conflict in the Middle-East on Israel saying: “If you are going to be truthful, the problem in the Middle East began with the creation of Israel. That is the truth. But I cannot say that.”

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Cumberbatch was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying: “I was shocked and disappointed to learn today of statements made by Dr Mahathir Mohamed articulating views that I find abhorrent and unacceptable.”

He also clarified that SunnyMarch never had any dealings with Mahathir and only worked with Mokhzani.

How they met

Cumberbatch -- who is known for portraying the titular character in the BBC series Sherlock, and Dr Strange in Marvel Cinematic Universe -- and Mokhzani first met in 2014 when Cumberbatch was visiting Malaysia for the Laureas Awards.

Mokhzani later hosted the actor at Formula One’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

“After that, we kept in touch and he invited me to invest in his movie start-up company,” he told The Star.

Top image by Rachel Ng